


When Clock Hands Freeze

by ElizaStyx



Category: Supernatural
Genre: A Lot of Plot, Alternate Universe - Soulmates, Falling In Love, Fluff, Hate to Love, Humour, Hurting each other, Intrigue, M/M, Minor Character Death, Misunderstandings, Organized Crime, Plot, Politics, Punk Castiel, Rebellion, Secrets, Slow Build, Soulmate-Identifying Timers, Tattoos, Twins, a bit of crack, chemist!Cas, dark at times, heavy on plot, leader!Dean, mafia, slight angst
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-01-07
Updated: 2015-03-05
Packaged: 2018-03-06 14:12:31
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 20
Words: 37,741
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3137309
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ElizaStyx/pseuds/ElizaStyx
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>When Castiel arrives to an abandoned factory to join a group of anti-fate rebeliants led by Dean Winchester, he doesn't expect this much of crap that he avoided dealing with to finally catch up with him, major part of it being the fact that his timer would be very soon flashing a grand deal of zeros at him, if not cautiously thrown into the deep dark water half a year before.<br/>Little did he know that clocks still tick at the bottom of the sea...<br/></p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> *NOW COMPLETE*  
> After a short break I'm back with an idea that's been hunting me for quite a long time now. I actually had first four chapters already written down but I'm glad I've never published them since I had a chance to rethink the whole plot and from what was meant to be a romantic comedy of sorts it evolved into a political thriller (?) with cracky humour and let me tell you, I do like that.  
> What's important for you to know: the whole thing is thoroughly planned to the point that I can tell it will have about 20 chapters (yes, I like nice numbers) and that I won't abandon it unless I die or something of that kind happens to me, which I would find... quite rude...  
> Sabriel appears pretty late in the story but ironically it builds up quicker than destiel. It's also important to the plot so I hope both shippers and non-shippers will find what they are looking for :)  
> I hope you all enjoy this story and if you do, leave some love in comments and with kudos. It fuels me :P

Castiel Novak was proud of his acting skills. No one could tell that underneath his usual laid-back facade he was practically crawling out of his skin.

He slowly threw away the cigarette butt he had kept for far too long already and in a nervous tic he run his fingers through his messy hair, making sure they stayed away from the clean-shaven, tattooed side of his head. Having tilted his head, he noticed the predatory looks he was getting from a pair of clearly alcohol-influenced ladies at the other end of the counter. He sighed, trying to look as uninterested as he could, the atmosphere of the bar tiring him even more after his exhausting journey. The music was too loud, lights too dim, alcohol too smelly, especially on the people around him who were standing just too close.

Having all of these unpleasant circumstances added to the main reason behind his unease, Castiel was pretty pissed off so few minutes later he greeted late Gabriel without enthusiasm although it meant the end of his torment.  
He eyed his older brother without a word but Gabriel didn't really expect any outburst of love so he wasn't surprised. He just cocked his head to the right and proceeded towards shabby door on the other side of the smoky room.  
Castiel lazily unglued himself from the bar and followed him, feeling dirty glances sliding down his neatly-shaped silhouette as he moved between the people, avoiding unwanted touches. And yet again his coolness was just a mask, he knew that the time had come.

He was about to meet his soulmate.  
His soulmate who happened to be the leader of the anti-fate rebellion, oh the sweet irony.

Castiel saw Gabriel reach the door and open it without knocking with a somehow theatrical gesture.  
"Hi Dean-o!" he greeted Castiel's doom cheerfully. "My lil' bro finally made it here."  
"Come on in." the voice that answered him was muffled by the music but Castiel could feel it talking right to his soul anyway.

In this moment he was pretty sure that even if he hadn't allowed himself that one last look at his timer before it sunk in the sea, he would surely realise it was this moment he was supposed to be waiting for.

Dean Winchester was indeed his fucking soulmate.

Castiel inhaled sharply and rolled his eyes, while passing Gabriel by in the doorframe. His whole nervousness shrinked into a tiny cold ball located in his stomach, making him feel really sick. The harder he was trying to maintain a blank face, the more shaky he was feeling but he reached the real peak of unease only when his eyes fell on Dean for the first time. His insides did a full barrel roll when he spotted the unbelievably handsome man who was sitting on a cosy mountain of ornamented pillows surrounded by a group of people in various stages of undress. Both females and males were either snuggling against him or each other, apparently fully oblivious to Castiel's presence. After all to them he was just a mere rebel like all the others.

Dean, however, was very aware of what was actually happening.

When Castiel first came in, he was totally laid back with his shirt halfly unbuttoned, one of his hands absently stroking some girl's hair, the other holding a glass of whiskey, his eyes almost closed. As their gazes met though, he became visibly more tense, straightening himself and measuring Castiel with sudden animosity.  
"So you're Gabriel's brother?" he handed his glass to a dark haired man on his right and asked with such an unexpected scorn that Castiel almost took a step back in shock.

Everything was just peachy, Dean was one of those sexy, egotic douchebags.

Suddenly Castiel regretted looking at this stupid timer and it ensured him that supporting this cause was the right thing to do. The thought that he could have been waiting for this jerk to walk into his life was rather pitiful. He felt a rush of anger hot in his veins. He raised his chin and narrowed his eyes, purposely ignoring the nicely shaped plains of Dean's chest exposed to him.  
"I am Castiel Novak indeed." he answered in the lowest of his voices.  
A tiny smirk of satisfaction appeared on his face as he saw Dean shiver a little at the sound.

Dean's eyes were full of hidden aversion when their gazes met again and so a heavy silence fell between them. Gabriel bit his lip, observing the whole scene and counting the hours once again. He felt a drop of cold sweat rolling down along his spine.  
No matter how hard he was trying to deny it, the results were always the same.  
The strangely hostile tension between Castiel and Dean has gotten unbearable. He grunted awkwardly, wondering whether he should share his knowledge with them but as two gazes - one intensively blue, the other candy green - fell on him, he quickly retreated.  
"Sorry" he coughed falsily. "I've got something in my throat." he felt like an idiot.

Of course Gabriel was generally against this fate shit and all for the free sex but truth to be told, he was stoned when he decided to join the rebels and with every passing month, in the deepest corners of his mind he regretted more and more that he hadn't taken this one last look at his watch, timer or whatever they called them now. His younger brother though was sober and determined and maybe Gabriel shouldn't have stuck his nose into Castiel's business but he had started feeling this regret by then and he had decided to take a look at Castiel's watch to store the memory for him in case he ever felt like Gabe did.

In that moment, which for sure was supposed to be the most special one in Castiel's life, if only Gabriel could do maths properly, Castiel seemed to be as far from regret as Dean was from his usual charming and relaxed self.

Gabriel felt a pang of fear at the thought that fate's vengeance for the destroyed timers may include twisting the love at the first sight into an equally strong hate. He didn't like that thought at all.

In the meantime the intimidating staredown reached an impasse and Castiel squinted, too tired to continue wasting his time like that.  
"I believe there is no point in us taking any more of your precious time, Dean." his voice was so venomous that even Gabriel felt threatened. "We'll live you now to your..." one corner of his mouth twitched in a sarcastic smirk as he made a pause. "important dealings, if you excuse us."  
"Oh, I wouldn't dare stopping you, Castiel." Dean's voice wasn't any less fierce. "Gabriel, will you show your brother to a free bed?"  
"Yes, of course." Gabriel gulped, trying to look as harmless as he could.  
"Good." Dean's smile was wry. "See you around, Castiel." the name was a hiss in his mouth.  
"Goodbye, Dean." Castiel bowed his head theatrically and having turned on his heel, he stormed out of the room, forcing Gabriel to run after him.

***

It took a lot of effort to squeeze through the crowd fast enough to catch up with Castiel and panting and sweating Gabriel reached him only when he stopped by the bar he despised earlier so much to fall heavily onto a stool.  
Gabriel eyed him carefully, catching his breath.  
"I thought..." he huffed. "You wanted to have some rest..."  
"I did but now as I reconsidered the situation, I realised that having a drink first is actually a better idea." Castiel waved at the bartender and ordered vodka. "I'm really in deep shock, Gabriel. From what you have told me over the phone I assumed this Dean douche would be... well, exactly not what he is." he didn't add how maddening and hurtful it was to experience so much hatered from someone he was supposed to love in the most intimate way.

Gabriel ordered a beer for himself, seemingly ignoring the hurt in Castiel's voice. So maybe his little brother subconsciously knew this meeting should have looked entirely different. Nevertheless, telling the truth was probably never an option.

Castiel downed his shot at once and started rubbing his forehead, a silent groan of dissatisfaction escaping his mouth. Gabriel thankfully grabbed his glass and dipping his lips in the foam, glanced at his brother from above his drink. His sight slid from Castiel's worried face up to his tattoo, involutarily tracing this strange floral pattern that was arching above Castiel's ear in a subtle weave he couldn't guess the meaning behind.   
He wondered whether Castiel would ever share this story with him. It was undoubtfully fascinating, even more mysterious, if one knew how religiously Castiel was shaving this side of his head.  
It had crossed Gabriel's mind that Castiel as a whole was generally seen as intriguing wherever he appeared, so Dean's reaction was twice as confusing. Even in his visibly troubled state Castiel was getting all of the hungry glances. This Dean thing was just simply a ridiculous mistake.

"Erm..." Gabriel grunted after a while. "He usually is nothing like today. He is a nice, charming man we all love and admire for his effort to make things work so smoothly."  
Castiel covered his face with his hands, feeling even worse than before. Apparently Dean's assholish behaviour was personally directed at him. Perfectly uplifting, as if he hadn't felt fucked enough before.  
"That's exactly what you have told me earlier." he turned his head slightly, one blue eye looking at Gabriel between the fingers. "You've founded me a great deal of shock."  
"Maybe he's having a bad day or... something." Gabriel quickly concentrated on his glass, taking a sip to hide his awkward attempt to tell him too much. "I promise you, Cassie, it's gonna look different tomorrow." he added immediately, hoping he sounded exactly as sure as he wasn't.  
Castiel exhaled heavily, ordering another shot for himself. "Let's assume I have reasons to believe you."


	2. Chapter 2

"Alright, lazy asses! Time to get up!" Dean's voice resounded loudly from the speakers all around the factory, tearing people out of their sweet sleep.  
The sound was so sudden that Castiel jerked up sharply which resulted in him falling out of his bed and almost crushing someone who for some reason was already on the floor.  
"What for the everloving fuck?" he growled, trying to determine where he was.  
He felt something rigid nudging at his ass and turned around to see he had practically squashed a pair of legs belonging to a dark haired woman with very displeased expression.

"I'm sorry!" he quickly crawled out of her space. "Are you okay?" he gave her a worried look.  
"I'm fine." she smiled, stretching her legs with relief. "And to answer your first question - it's an announcement." she adjusted her messy fringe. "Can't really remeber last time it happened."  
"A wind of change, huh?" Castiel muttered bitterly, mostly to himself.  
"I hope not." she huffed. "I'm pretty comfortable"  
Castiel glanced at her with sudden amusement as he suddenly remembered the old, shitty pun of his father and he just couldn't stop it from escaping his mouth. "Hi, pretty comfortable, I'm Castiel."  
She gave him a strange look but then she chuckled, rolling her eyes.  
"Lame, wasn't it?" Castiel was surprised to discover that he actually felt like laughing and smiling, greeting the new day with hope.  
"A bit." she admitted, squeezing one of her eyes. "I'm Hannah, pretty comfortable for friends."  
"Nice to meet you, Hannah." Castiel raised up and reached towards her to help her stand up. "Guess we are neighbours now." he eyed the room he had only came into in the middle of the night, which prevented him from taking a look around.

There were ten beds in this quite a roomy space, tiny commodes by each of it with small nightlamps of various shapes and sizes on top of them. The walls had a neat azure colour and clearly the whole room had been renovated. His bed indeed stood next to Hannah's, the other neighbouring one was free.  
Other dwellers of their dorm were also struggling to wake up. Castiel counted five of them and a pair still fast asleep in the corner, too comfortable to give up on their sleep.  
"Yeah, it seems." her smile became a little reserved. "You're new here, right?"  
"Yeah, I've moved from LA. My brother, Gabriel Novak, said this place was much better organised and pleasant to live in."  
"'Til yesterday for sure it was." she moved towards her commode and picked a tiny mirror to examine her looks. "We will see what today brings."

"So this was a call for an appeal of sorts or?" Castiel changed the topic, tilting his head towards the speaker that woke them up.  
"Yep." Hannah proceeded to make her bed. "It must be very imoprtant since it couldn't wait 'til after breakfast." she shorted.  
"I believe we all feel your pain." Castiel was honestly more uneasy with a thought of it having something to do with their yesterday's meeting than missing the breakfast. "For sure he has something stuck up his ass..." he added silently.  
"What?" Hannah looked at him, narrowing her eyes.  
"What?" Castiel's eyes were so big and innocent that Hannah lost her trail of thoughts.

***

The gatherings usually took place in the factory hall as Hannah explained on the way there. Castiel was oggling the surroundings with fascination. He had arrived already after the sunset and didn't see much of the abandoned factory the rebels chose as their base as he had been immediately led to the bar room by one of the guards who let him in. He was honestly surprised that anyone was bothering to check who was entering the gates, nevertheless he had been let in and since then he hadn't given it any second thoughts.

The smaller offices had been turned into dorms like the one he had been sleeping in, the larger rooms were devoted to entertainment like the bar he had already visited, TV room, computer room and a library. They also passed a tiny first-aid section and bathrooms he vaguely remembered visiting right before Gabriel showed him to his bed. The main hall itself was halfly a great diner with one corner of it temporarily assigned to a kitchen, which was separated by a palpably newly erected wall, and about ten even rows of tables of various shapes and sizes with even less matching chairs to accompany them, the other half was a free space, in that moment occupied by the people who decided to listen to the appeal.

As the initial fascination with the new place had passed, Castiel felt a sudden urge to find himself closer to the gallery Dean was supposed to appear on judging from the amount of people staring at it impatiently. He started pushing himself between the people until he got close enough to satisfy his whim. He didn't even bother to check whether Hannah followed him.

Half a minute later Dean Winchester appeared in front of the people. He was wearing a pair of worn-out jeans, black t-shirt and an unbottoned plaid shirt on top of that, as if this was a casual meeting with friends not a speech to hundreds of people who basically were under his command.  
"Howdy, friends!" he begun, grinning widely and measuring the big crowd with satisfaction.  
"Hi, Dean!" a feminine voice from one of the further lines answered him seductively, raising a soft wave of giggles.  
Dean rolled his eyes, shaking his head slightly, smug smirk bending his lips.

"Thank you for coming, folks." he sighed, leaning on the safety rail, his face turning serious. "I'm not here to bore you to death so don't worry, you'll soon be free to proceed with your usual morning routine." he made a pause to let some knowing laughters fall silent. "We've been equally working and enjoying ourselves greatly recently and as the opinions on our well-organised small society heaved bigger circles many people have joined us, choosing to support our cause." his gaze fell on Castiel and instantaneously his tone became colder. "Many different people are here today with us and it's great but it's just a beginning, this tiny lodgement of freedom." he inhaled deeply. "The time to act has come." he made a pregnant pause. "While all of the groups around the country that gathered like ours have the same goal to peacefully persuade people to join our movement, it's been decided after a long discussion between the local leaders that our squad should be the one to recieve a special task in addition to the basic one which is the already mentioned persuasion you will all be prepared to go to people with."

"My dear friends, we were chosen to defend those who can't defend themselves. We are now officialy the protectors of the newborn children." Dean licked his lower lip and took a deep breath, his eyes stubbornly stuck to Castiel's face. "Currently every child born in the US is given a timer at birth, immediately becoming chained to the fate, becoming a slave of it. Can you imagine how much easier and more pleasant your life would be, if you hadn't been told since your first day on this world that there is someone so special out there that your whole life before the meeting is just a meaningless wait?" he raised his voice. "Don't you have this impression that you haven't lived your life fully because you weren't fighting, instead hoping for this one, magical moment to flip everything over and give you instant happiness? Doesn't the vision of all the wasted chances terrify you?" Dean narrowed his eyes. "Why do we keep teaching our children that the only thing that matters in their life is this one specific person they don't even know? Why do we define other people only in relation to their future partners? Why do we alienate those who for some reason don't ever get to meet the ones they were supposed to love? It's high time to stop this bullshit and let each and every child live a happy and free life!" Dean became truly fierce, his cheeks burning and threat unhidden in his voice.   
Castiel realised he was finally seeing the great leader in him and was absolutely mesmerised by the sight.

"Are you with me?" Dean asked, his voice strong and clear.  
"Yes!" answered those, who weren't completely transfixed by his speech or managed to somehow bring themselves back to consciousness.  
"Are you with me?!" Dean shouted again, this time waking all the enchanted up.  
"Yes!" the whole gathering responded, Castiel amongst them.  
"Good." Dean grinned wolfishly, his eyes sparkling. "We have **The**  Factory to blow up." he let the information sink in, observing most of the faces lighten up with realisation, then he bowed his head slightly and having given Castiel one last look, he left.

Castiel didn't notice Hannah appearing by his side as he watched Dean's firm silhouette disappear in the doorway. He didn't react to people moving around him and nudging him to move along as he stood in the middle of the path. He obediently followed Hannah when she pulled his forearm to lead him somewhere. He was completely lost in his thoughts.

***

"That was **something** , wasn't it?" Hannah was babbling with admiration as Castiel started absently chewing his sandwich.  
His mind was weirdly occupied with the provisioning problems. He just couldn't get how on Earth could they feed so many people, who were clearly not doing anything that could be considered work as far as his observations went. The topic was obviously strongly connected to Dean so his thoughts quickly bounced back to him.

There was no doubt that Dean Winchester was devoted to this cause and Castiel couldn't agree more with what he had said. His life had been too greatly influenced by this stupid timer. Everyone was asking about it, even people who he just met, as if a bunch of numbers could tell them everything they needed to know about him.  
It really worried his parents that Castiel hadn't been spending his free time staring at it like most people did. A lack of obsession was seen as abnormal.  
Finally he had had enough, which was probably a family thing since Gabriel had already been living without his watch for a year then, and having Gabe's moral support, he had thrown his timer into the sea.

For some reason though he, who had already forgotten what his watch was showing, he, who had been successfuly ignoring it all the time, he... took that one last look at those numbers he despised so much and in that moment they had been forever imprinted on to his eyelids. 6 months 10 days 8 hours 2 minutes and 4 seconds - the exact time 'til his first meeting with Dean Winchester. Why did he always have to be so stupid?

"Are you even listening to me?" Hannah's voice was suddenly too loud to ignore.  
"I'm sorry, I'm just... still a little sleepy." Castiel looked at her apologetically.  
"Of course..." she huffed grumpily but no more than three seconds later a smile was back on her lips. "I was asking for your opinon on Dean's plan."  
"Um..." Castiel looked down at the remains of his breakfast, his stomach twisting at the sound of Dean's name. "Blowing up The Factory, huh?" he had actually accepted it without any further consideration. "It's brilliant. I mean, it's the only place where they produce the timers. It's like cutting off the head of a dragon."  
"He's a genius, I'm not even any longer mad he woke me up so early." Hannah sighed, her expression becoming reminiscent. "Plus he really is dreamy, don't you think?"  
"Undoubtfully." Castiel grunted and shifted on his suspiciously gothic chair, looking above Hannah's shoulder in search for something that could save him from this conversation. "Oh look!" he spotted Gabriel and waved his hand frantically. "It's my brother." he was thankful that Hannah turned around to look and hopefully forgot about the topic of Dean Winchester's attractiveness. "Gabe!" he called once again.

Gabriel finally spotted him and hesitated but then started walking towards them. Even from the distance Castiel could tell that something was making Gabe nervous.


	3. Chapter 3

"Guess you will have to kill me." Gabriel turned to Castiel first thing after he sat down on a crooked stool and introduced himself to Hannah.  
"Why would I?" Castiel frowned, somehow unpleasantly sure it had a lot to do with the only person he didn't really want to think about any more.  
"I accidentally might have told Dean that you are a chemist..." Gabriel hid his head between his shoulders.  
"And...?" Castiel mentally prepared himself for a catastrophy.  
"Well, he needs someone to construct the bomb for him..." Gabriel gulped, trying to make himself look even smaller.  
"Oh no, no, no, I am certainly not going to work anywhere near that douche..." Castiel protested as staying away from Dean would make it easier to spit the fate in the face and also not get hurt by his every word and action, which definitly was an advantage. "He'll have to find someone else."  
"I would be really glad, if there was anyone else." a deep voice resounded behind Castiel's back, vibrating in his bones. "Unfortunately I don't have this comfort to experience content today."

Hannah and Gabriel made big eyes and Castiel turned around to face the man he apparently just couldn't escape.  
"I'll respect your wishes though." Dean added, looking down at him with almost perfectly expressionless face. "You will see as little of me as possible, Castiel, so please, say yes and work for the better future for all the people."

It occured to Castiel that he probably should have felt ashamed since Dean had heard him but Dean had also been a jerk towards him since the very beginning so he absolved himself. He measured Dean with indifferent gaze and then shrugged.  
"Fine." he said. "I'm here to rebel for real anyway, not to sit on my ass waiting for salvation or fuck random strangers."  
"Thank you." Dean bowed his head in careful appreciation. "We'll prepare a lab for you. Hopefully it will be ready in the evening but don't expect any luxuries. And I'd rather you drop by later today and check if there isn't anything crucial missing."  
"Oh, I will come then." for some reason it sounded more like a threat than a promise and this wasn't exactly what Castiel wanted to achieve.

Dean narrowed his eyes but didn't comment. Instead he said a cold goodbye and left them to themselves and their food.  
"Charming, isn't he?" Castiel snorted.  
"I surely remember him in better mood." Hannah lowered her gaze and started toying with her teaspoon.  
"Yeah, me too." Gabriel was fine with avoiding the topic of his role in all of this. "Something must have changed recently." he chose dropping subtle hints as a safe tactics to bring Castiel to the realisation.  
"Yep, probably someone had stuck a real poker up his ass." Castiel's good mood had been permanently spoiled.  
Gabriel didn't have any good riposte.

***

Castiel had to admit that he was pleasantly surprised. The room he were to work in must have been a lab before since it had all the necessary facilities that just couldn't be installed in a day. The current equipment included gas and water fittings, fume hood, water filtrating machine, centrifuge, autoclave, heated bath, magnetic stirrer and a cupboard full of glassware. On top of that there was a working space for five people, more than he would ever be given in any research center.

The room had been neatly cleaned up and resembled one of the older labs Castiel had been working in as a student. A small smile appeared on his face as he slid his fingers over the wooden counter, feeling the proofs of the intense work that took place here burned into once smooth a surface. He would never admit it out loud but he needed his workspace to have a soul and this lab definitely possessed one.

The anticipation was already nudging him to run some of his favourite chemical reactions just to test his new lab and remind himself how much he had always loved the practical part of his field. If not for Gabriel's act of rebellion and a sudden growth of annoying attention his parents had focused on him, he could still have been working as an assistant lecturer on his old university, and writing a new publication that could bring him recognition in the scientific word.  
Instead of staying a responsible adult though he had left without any explanation so he had no hope he could return to his old job now. Maybe it wasn't his most reasonable decision to leave everything behind and hitchhike to LA but at least now he finally was given an opportunity to become a part of the world-changing movement.

Actually in this moment he was happy that he had believed Gabriel's words and came to Detroit, leaving the decadent group from Los Angeles to find a place where something significant was happening. Dean knew well how to make things work smoothly and his leadership skills were growing on Castiel with every tiny detail of this well-functioning machine he noticed. Most of the people living here were still fully oblivious to the effort he was putting into making sure they weren't starving, rotting in dirt or suffering withouth medical help and keeping them entertained until the day to act had come.

This was a place of real and dangerous rebellion and this realisation itself was thrilling.

Castiel bit his lip and appraised the bottles with fresh chemicals, his admiration growing as the supplier really knew his job. He just couldn't wait to start working and maybe he was even supposed to begin just right in this moment since a white lab coat, gloves and goggles were waiting for him.

Castiel took a deep breath and approached the protective clothing with a religious respect to raise the coat and smell it. It was new and somehow sacred in its immaculate shape. He just couldn't wait to taint it with salts and burn first holes in the unwrinkled sleeves. The touch of the white collar on his neck reminded him of the times when everything had been so simple and obvious. In the moments like this he even wished he was like other people, living his boring life and waiting for the inevitable happiness to come.  
Castiel sighed and placed the goggles on his nose.

He was halfway through putting his left glove on when someone knocked on the door.  
"Come in, please." he pulled the glove off and raised his goggles to secure them on top of his head, sighing with slight annoyment, already knowing what was about to happen.  
And of course it was Dean who came in.

"So..." the great leader begun, not even sparing him a single hello. "How do you like it?" he eyed the lab with polite interest.  
"It's way more than I expected." Castiel admitted, leaning back against the counter.  
"You surely have some very low expectations of me." Dean snorted, looking at him with narrowed eyes.  
"It's honestly better than I thought possible to put together under such circumstances, Dean." Castiel was itching to get rid of Dean and test the lab so the irritation was audible in his voice.  
"Aren't you just too generous with compliments?" Dean grinned falsily and picked up a bottle that stood on the edge of a shelf on his right.

Castiel silently watched him play with it for a while until he chose to try opening the cap.  
"Put it down, Dean." he said it with indifference that barely hid his unctrollable anger and surprised him as much as it surprised Dean.  
"Or what?" Dean looked at him with challenge in his eyes, twisting the cap slightly.  
"Or your skin will melt right to the bone." Castiel narrowed his eyes, a vision of Dean hurting himself making him somehow even more angry. "It's a strong base, burns worse than any acid."  
"I was being careful." Dean huffed but put the bottle down very gently.  
"Wash your hands, just in case." Castiel ordered coldly.  
"You know, I just love being manhandled, Cas." Dean snorted and rolled his eyes but approached the sink anyway.

Castiel chose to ignore the pet name and not to stare too much at Dean's forearms as he rolled his sleeves up. Disregarding and avoiding Dean was just the best way to end this whole soulmates business. It really should have been an easy task since Dean had proven himself to be a jerk.  
A massive jerk with great organising skills and mind, and also grossily good looks...  
But it was not to be thought of.

Dean finished his cleaning process and turned back to Castiel, measuring him lazily with his gaze. Castiel remained gravely silent, concentrated on stopping a blush of unknown origin from creeping up his neck. Finally he felt dangerously close to losing this fight with his own body so he grunted.  
"I believe I've already wasted enough of your precious time, Dean. I'm positive that with such a well-equipped laboratory my work will soon bring the expected results and you will be more than simply satisfied with my contribution to our cause." he said.  
"I guess, I'll leave you to your work then." Dean seemed to be a little offended and flattered at the same time.  
"Thank you." Castiel's face wasn't expressing any feelings.

Dean passed him by somehow stiffly and Castiel managed not to follow him with his gaze. It was a surprisingly hard task.  
"See you around, Castiel." Dean said, words forced out.  
"Goodbye, Dean." Castiel didn't even look at him, picking the displaced bottle and putting it back on the shelf.

***

"How are the preparations going?" the question was unexpected and the sudden sound caught Benny off-guard, making him shiver a little.  
He still couldn't decide which voice was less pleasant to hear, this one or the one belonging to this slithery and tall, long-haired man.  
"They are getting better with every passing day, sir." Benny straightened his posture nervously.  
"That's... kind of an undetailed description, soldier." there was a hint of amusement in his tone and Benny didn't like that. "I would like to see them in training."  
"You shall follow me then, sir." Benny waited for him to nod his head and then he begun walking.

He should have gotten used to him by then but he still was finding it weird that such a man with a mask of cruel self-serving was standing behind such a great cause.  
 _I'm probably being unfair to him._ he thought, feeling a little ashamed. _I should judge his actions, not his looks._

They went through a bright corridor and entered the main hall. The scent of sweat and heat hit them and Benny saw him wrinkle his nose in disgust. Those were his people working for him though, he shouldn't complain.  
"Michael!" they've heard a voice calling from a gallery above them.  
Benny once again felt the shiver going down his spine. Definitely this voice was much more scary when unexpected.  
"Do not call me that." a venomous hiss came from the man by Benny's side.  
"Sorry." a smug smirk appeared on the other man's face. "What are you doing here anyway?"

Benny raised his brow and looked between them. It wasn't Michael's first visit and he actually appeared around here quite often recently, constantly stressing Benny out. The man he thought to be the local god didn't seem to be aware of it though and Benny somehow... didn't feel like enlightening him.  
"Ah, you know, my friend... I was just curious what is my money being spend on." Michael smiled an unpleasant smile.  
"And? Are you satisfied with what you see?" the question was full of self-assured mockery.  
"More than you can imagine." Michael grinned, looking up at the other man.

Benny gulped, maintaining a straight, indifferent face. He would really be glad in that moment to have a comfort of certainty that he was still doing the right thing.


	4. Chapter 4

It had been a long evening and Castiel greeted the sight of his bed with a content sigh.  
"So..." Hannah looked up at him, taking her eyes off the book she was reading. "How was your first day of work?"  
Castiel glanced at her, cocked his head and then fell down, face first onto his bed, emitting a silent whine.  
"I guess that's enough for an answer." she chuckled softly and returned to her reading.

Castiel grabbed his pillow and buried his face in it. His head was spinning and he still could smell the scent of ammonia everywhere around him. He had missed it actually but he also needed to get used to it again after such a long break. He was pleasantly exhausted, having run various reactions successfully and he could already sense the ideas coming to his mind, a perfect bomb created by him. Even if the consequences for him could be drastic, he surely would be remebered as a great inventor.  
He smiled into the pillow, really satisfied with that vision.  
Castiel Novak and Dean Winchester, two mere humans who freed the world from the timers and fate. Two humans who were bold enough to rebel. Two people who were... each other's soulmates.

"Fuck." Castiel groaned out loud, making Hannah look at him anxiously.  
This whole situation would be ridiculous as a plot of some romantic comedy but definitely not so much as his very real life story.  
"Are you okay?" Hannah asked silently, putting her book down.  
"I'm alright, just tired... It was a long day." his voice was muffled by the pillow. "I need a shower before I go to sleep and I don't like that thought at all."  
"Understendable." Hannah was obviously compassionate. "But I'm not gonna encourage you to miss it. You stink like... well, like a lab."  
Castiel raised his head to look at her and roll his eyes, snorting. Hannah grinned in response.

***

He barely made it to the showers as the level of his overstrain suddenly increased on his way there. It occured to him that he had no physical reasons to feel so exhausted but the emotional ride was tiring enough to prostrate him. There were too many things that needed consideration, too many facts to analise and Castiel felt already too old for that shit, being only twenty six. His priority was to let his brain sort everything out in the sleep and hopefully let him wake up with at least some ideas how to deal with this situation.  
He absently entered the men's bathroom, took his clothes off and almost crawled into a free cubicle.

A surprising stream of ice cold water hitting his nape helped him regain some consciousness. Castiel swore and twisted the spigot, adjusting the temperature to a more bearable one, somehow managing to balance between the cold pits of Siberia and skin-melting river of lava straight from hell.  
Having the streams of water wash away all the sweat and stains away was really refreshing and relaxing and Castiel closed his eyes, just standing there and letting all the problems flow away.

He was so lost in this blissfull state of mind that he didn't register a sudden shift in the background noises when one shower stopped working as someone entered the bathroom and soon two voices started silently talking. He was fully oblivious to the conversation until Hannah's name had been mentioned or at least he was sure he heard it. Either way it caught his attention so pretending he was still taking an innocent shower and minding his own business, he made a step towards the plastic curtain that separated him from the talking men and glued his ear to the small gap between the curtain and the wall.

"... and what's with this Alastair dude?" asked one voice.  
"People keep coming and leaving. Changing their mind, changing the environment, you know..." the other man was defending himself.  
"Alastair seemed to be okay with his stay here." the questioning guy wasn't convinced.  
"He never talked much..." hope appeared on the suspiciously defensive side of the conversation.  
"Benny, I can tell that you are hiding something. Do you really need Mister Fizzles to tell you that you are a liar?" the question sounded a lot like a threat.

 _Mister Fizzles?_ Castiel frowned, wondering what was all of this about and who could be powerful enough to be a serious threat even if only judging people's honesty.

"You are sometimes so embarassing, Garth." this Benny dude was clearly trying to change the topic.  
"And you are always trying to manipulate me off the track whenever I'm onto something." Garth was too good for such a trick and Castiel silently sided with him.  
"Just... quit it, okay? It's... Dean's doing." Castiel could imagine Benny taking a nervous look around. "I shouldn't have told you even this much, keep it a secret." he lowered his voice so that Castiel had to strain his hearing. "I'm choosing those people for him."  
"Ah... so this not only explains why they disappear for forever but also why he is never eating with the rest of us..." Garth clicked his tongue knowingly. "Extravagant cuisine, huh?"  
"What?" Benny raised his voice in confusion. "No! What did you even...? How could you...? Jesus, you are really crazy!"  
"Garth'd! I was obviously joking." Garth giggled. "I know him well enough to know he isn't **that** twisted."  
Castiel heard them move around and walk away towards the entrance to the toilets.  
"You know what? Why don't you just take a pee and leave me alone?" Benny sounded devastated.  
Castiel didn't hear Garth's response as they went out.

He didn't need it to be sure that something really strange was going on in here anyway and that Dean was a part of it whether he was a real-life Hannibal Lecter or not. Also this mysterious Mister Fizzles being involved in it as some kind of local tribunal of justice seemed a bit alarming.  
Definitely Hannah and Gabriel had some answers he needed to convince himself to stop worrying that this place could be a bit too well-organised.

With that thought he finished his shower and stepped out of the cubicle, covering himself with a towel. He eyed himself in the mirror, almost unwittingly comparing his silhouette to Dean's.  
 _He may be an eye candy._ he thought. _But I'm not that bad myself._ he smirked with satisfaction and dried his hair, feeling much more alive than half an hour before.

***

Having regained some clarity of mind, Castiel was really glad that Hannah was still up and reading when he came back to their room.  
"Hannah?" he begun, sitting down on his bed and looking at her expectantly.  
"Hmmm?" she was clearly involved in reading and very far from reality but she glanced at him after a while.  
"Who is Mister Fizzles?" he asked, lowering his voice in case it was some forbidden topic.  
"Who?" Hannah made big eyes, placing her book down by her side.  
"Mister Fizzles." Castiel repeated. "You must have heard of him since you're here much longer than I am."  
"Sorry but doesn't ring a bell." she shook her head. "Why do you ask?"  
"I've hear some guys referring to him as a judge or someone with similar powers. Their names were..." Castiel frowned. "Garth and... Benny. Maybe you know them?"

Hannah quivered and became visibly more tense, trying to mask it with a fake smile. "Still nothing, sorry."  
Castiel measured her with a questioning gaze but she didn't even blink clearly uneager to share any details so he decided to drop the direct approach.  
"Can I ask you about something more personal then?" maybe it wasn't the best time but Castiel was feeling a lot like a baby lost in the darkness without any basic knowledge about the people who surrounded him. "Why did you join the rebellion?"  
"I..." Hannah opened her mouth and closed it rapidly; then she took a deep breath and shook her head slightly as if she were shaking some unwanted thoughts off. "I've experienced the death of my soulmate." she lowered her voice. "Before we've even met! It was a mistake of the universe or something equally nonsensical as they told me during my therapy which I had to undergo. It occured to me then that it was simply stupid to suffer so much because of a person I've never met. I don't want anyone else to have to go through the same crap as I did, that's why I'm here."  
"I'm sorry." Castiel really felt for her.  
"Don't be." her eyes were surprisingly cold. "I can't really miss what I've never had."

Castiel wished he could say the same thing with equal certainty. He was constantly catching himself thinking about Dean in details or in general. It was as if this man had been imprinted into his mind and creeped into all the free space that was left there like some kind of a disease. Castiel could only assume that this was the damned fate working and giving absolutely no fucks about his wishes to ignore all Dean-connected things. Like for example his perfectly shaped ass in those old jeans and the pet name slipping from between his lips just as sneakily as those thoughts were slipping into Castiel's mind. No matter how hard he tried to remind himself about Dean's douchebagish behaviour whenever he realised they were attacking him again, he was instantly flooded with images of his freckled skin, undoubtfully very soft and kissable, and those bright eyes of an unearthly colour one could really drown in.

This was simply maddening.

"You are a wise woman, Hannah." he finally sighed in response.  
"You try to doubt it..." a real smile returned onto her face. "You should get some sleep now. No offence but you look awful."  
"Thanks." Castiel snorted and crawled underneath his covers.  
"No problem." the last thing his mind registered was Hannah's soft giggle of self-satisfaction.


	5. Chapter 5

Ignoring an angry roar of his stomach, Castiel took a closer, suspicious look at his omelette. Saliva started filling up his mouth as he smelled the golden surface and narrowed his eyes in concentration.  
"I know it may be hard to believe but it's an actual" Gabriel who appeared seemingly out of nowhere made a pregnant pause. "omelette du fromage." he whispered and grinned, winking at Hannah. "Made out of eggs and you know, the rest. The food is very real here."  
"I know, Gabe." Castiel sighed, picking up his cutlery. "And it's a bit worrying, if I might say. We eat like in a decent hotel."  
"Don't tell me you would prefer rusks and canned pea." Gabriel snorted and sat between them on what seemed to be a wicker armchair.  
"At least it would feel more like a rebellion not holidays." Castiel was really annoyed since the moment he had gotten out of bed; he really didn't enjoy being suspicious. "Where is this food even coming from? Who the hell is paying for all of this?" he vaguely gestured towards all the surroundings. "Something's fishy and you of all the people should have noticed that, Gabe."  
"I'm just a mere mortal, Cassie." Gabe reached out and grabbed himself a part of Castiel's omelette. "I know Dean personally but it doesn't make me any better informed than you." he started chewing, a grin of delight appearing on his face. "Delicious. I wouldn't complain, if I were you. Still... If you have a problem with your breakfast, I can take care of it."

"You know, your brother is right." Hannah was somehow mesmerised by Castiel's plate too. "Dean doesn't have any particular chosen one amongst the rebels, we all know the same things." she finally looked up at Castiel's face. "Maybe you have been promoted though. You will surely know more about his plans than we do soon."  
"I doubt he will share with me." Castiel grimaced and took the first bite of his breakfast.  
"Hellooo... You need to know more, you jackass." Gabriel rolled his eyes. "You can't work, if you don't know some basic details."  
"As he said." Hannah tilted her head. "Why are you so against Dean all the time? You are here for two days and you behave as if he has already destroyed all your dreams and poisoned your cat." Hannah leaned towards him. "What did he do to you?"

Castiel frowned and took a big bite to temporize. Dean had actually done nothing more than not falling in love with him. Not that Castiel wanted it to happen anyway, of course.

"They've been jerks towards each other since the very second they met." Gabriel answered for him. "Hate at the first sight, as if they had some true nemesis timer."  
Castiel almost choked on his food. _Could Gabriel somehow...? No, it was impossible...  
_ Gabriel observed Castiel's face becoming visibly paler and smirked to himself. So maybe this idiot of his brother could turn his thinking on.

"Dean was an arrogant asshole during our first meeting." Castiel made his tone neutral, regaining calm composure. "He treated me like a piece of trash."  
"You weren't exactly an angel yourself..." Gabriel teased.  
"Et tu Brute?" Castiel said with exaggerated disappointment and sudden anger. "His very presence was offensive."  
"Such a fragile princess you are, Cassie..." Gabriel snorted, narrowing his eyes with annoyance.  
"You know what?" Castiel stood up. "I regret listening to you, then and today. Fuck you, Gabriel." he shoved his plate towards Gabriel with a dramatic gesture and marched off.

"Really fragile." Gabriel summed him up halfly irritated and halfly intrigued, his eyes following Castiel's silhouette.  
"That was really unnecessary." Hannah grimaced.  
"He needs a decent punch in the guts from time to time to start thinking reasonably." Gabriel shrugged and took a bite of the omelette. "Simply marvelous." he sighed with his mouth full.

***

Anger was boiling in Castiel's veins as he entered his lab. It only proved that he knew Gabriel was right and it was unsurprisingly making him even more furious. Yeah, he had been unpleasantly defensive but so what? He had every right to behave like this, knowing that Dean was his soulmate and trying to avoid falling for him.  
Dean on the other hand had no reasons to behave like he had so it was him who was the real Mister Douche and the awful beginning of their acquaintance was his fault. Castiel had been just defending his independence and sanity because he suspected how fucking depressing it would be to pine for a person who would be all against a stable relatioship and, as it turned out, a total jerk by the way.  
Gabriel had no right to put any blame on Cas, especially because he didn't understand anything since he had no idea what this was really about. Actually no one knew and it was better this way. Castiel was a grown up man and he needed no compassion or stupidly handsome soulmate.

With that conclusion in mind he put his lab coat on and glanced at the chemicals he had at hand.  
"A powerful bomb..." he murmured to himself.  
Somehow managing to keep all the unwanted thoughts under control, he picked a bunch of bottles and glassware. Then, still without sparing Dean a single thought, he started mixing the ingredients, boiling the mixtures, triturating crystals and watching the substances react. His anger was surprisingly helpful, a vision of Gabriel's head exploding pretty inspiring and encouraging him to work harder.

He was so indulged in his work that he completely forgot he could be having any basic needs. He missed the dinner and only when he accidentaly glanced through a window, he noticed that it had already gotten dark.

With his head full of reactions and formulas Castiel summed up his achievements, coming to some very satisfying conclusions. The work was going even faster than he expected it to. If everything were to continue progressing in equal pace, he could be running the first test of the destructive power in two, maybe three days.  
Except that he had no place to run them in.  
Castiel frowned, measuring his lab. Definitely he couldn't risk blowing it up. It meant that he had to ask Dean for some safe space.  
Immediately his mood was spoiled again.

He swore silently and took his goggles off. The faster he would do it, the quicker he could stop thinking about Dean. He was already leaving with a plan to find him when his stomach rumbled loudly in protest.  
 _Okay, fine, supper first._ he rolled his eyes and turned the lights off, actually glad that this day was coming to an end.

***

He found Hannah and Gabriel already sitting by the table that apparently became theirs for good.  
"What are you, best buddies now?" he asked, mentally preparing himself for loads of Dean shit.  
"We've been worried about you, lil' bro." Gabriel sounded sincere. "You've missed the dinner."  
"I haven't even noticed it had gotten this late, work was pretty occupying." Castiel sat down, not wasting any time for analisis before forcing half of his sausage into his mouth.

"Is it going well then?" Hannah turned to him.  
"Fntystic." he mumbled with his mouth full.  
"Shhh, let him eat in peace." Gabriel chastened her. "Poor boy is gonna choke and die."  
"Sorry." she raised her hands in apology.  
"'s fine." Castiel stuffed a delicious fresh roll into his mouth.

Gabriel and Hannah observed with growing horror as enourmous amounts of food kept disappearing between Castiel's lips in a competition-worthy pace. After two more awkward minutes he was finished and looked at them with a smile of pure bliss.  
"Gabe, can you take me to Dean?" he asked nonchalantly.  
"What?" Gabriel blinked, awakening from a trance and raising his eyes to look him in the eye.  
"I need to see Dean." Castiel repeated patiently, trying not to lose his good mood.  
"Are you going to say sorry to him?" Hannah sounded somewhat hopeful.  
"What? No..." Castiel frowned, fighting back the unwanted thoughts about his apologies. "I need to ask him for something. For my work."  
Her face immediately betrayed a sort of disappointment Castiel found very mother-like.  
"Can you do that, Gabe?" he repeated his question, turning back to his brother.  
"Uhmm, yes sure." Gabriel stood up awkwardly. "Have a good evening, Hannah." he waved goodbye to her.  
"You too." she smiled at him and then shook her head slightly, looking at Castiel.  
She couldn't quite comprehend how could anyone hate Dean.

***

"Where are we going?" Castiel didn't expect the factory to hide so many secrets and yet he was in a corridor that had literally no way to fit where it was.  
"Dean's office." Gabriel didn't spare him a glance, marching on.  
"And you said you aren't close to him..." Castiel snorted.  
"I've been here few times but it doesn't mean I know anything, alright?" Gabriel finally looked at him and then suddenly turned towards wooden door on his left.  
His movement was so unexpected that Castiel had to whirl around on his heel and make a step back to join him.

Gabriel knocked on the painted wood as his brother had joined him.  
"Who's there?" asked a muffled voice and Castiel's heart fluttered.  
"Gabriel and Castiel." Gabe shouted back.  
For a short while a perfect silence fell on the other side of the door.  
"Come in, please." Dean's voice sounded softly like never before and Castiel felt a strange shiver going down his spine.

Gabriel entered the office with no further hesitation and Castiel followed him, gulping and taking an unsure look around. The lights in the office wre warm and bright, making the room look cozy and more like a living space than a workplace. Two old armchairs were facing a big desk and all free surfaces were covered with papers, tons of mysterious tables looking like an accountant's nightmare.

Dean was wearing a smart white shirt, much more formal than what Castiel had seen him in before, but two top buttons of it were undone. Also Dean's hair were a bit messy and if the number of empty mugs was any indication, he probably had spent more hours working there than Castiel had in his lab.  
The most striking thing wasn't Dean's apparel though. It was the bright smile he was wearing despite his obvious exhaustion. Castiel had to fight an urge to rub his eyes in disbelief. Dean Winchester was smiling **at him**.

"Hi, how can I help you?" Dean asked silently.  
A cat must have gotten Castiel's tongue. He glanced at Gabriel with terror written all over his face. Dean looked between them with a slightly nervous confusion.  
"Well..." Gabriel licked his lips. "I was just showing Castiel the way. He has some business he wished to discuss with you."  
"Yeah?" Dean was blushing and Castiel wished the ground could open and swallow him whole. "What do you need, Cas?" he focused his sight on Castiel's face and Castiel opened his mouth in awe.  
Gabriel shifted awkwardly on his place.

"Who are you and what the hell did you do to Dean Winchester?" Castiel muttered after a while of uncomfortable silence.  
"What, you liked the old me better?" a hint of snark appeared in Dean's voice, contrasting with his flushed face. "Oh, sorry..." he bit his tongue quickly. "I just... you know, thought I shouldn't be so impolite. I don't feel too well being called a jerk." he made an apologetic face, blushing even harder.  
"I'm..." Castiel made big eyes. "Give me a moment to readjust my mental profile."  
"Fine, whatever you need, Cas." Dean furrowed his brows a little but he patiently fell silent.

Gabriel bit his lip, waiting in suspense for the oncoming events. There was a part of him that wished to get the hell out but he was just too curious whether those two idiots could figure everything out on their own.

"Okay, I'm ready." Castiel exhaled sharply and glanced at Dean, his gaze quickly sliding away. "In the light of the most recent events I believe I owe you an apology for my highly inappropriate and childish behaviour. I'm truly sorry, Dean."  
"I accept it." Dean looked down at his desk. "I wasn't being a sensible adult either. I'm sorry too, Castiel."  
"It's forgiven." Castiel risked flashing a tiny smile in Dean's direction. "As for the reason I came here with... I need a place to run my tests. And by tests I mean explosions which will get gradually bigger. Could you find something suitable?" he tilted his head a little.  
"Surely, yeah." Dean's smile was stile shy. "We don't suffer from a lack of space here, I'll show you around tomorrow, if that's okay?"  
"Absolutely." Castiel was still in deep shock. "Thank you, Dean."  
"No problem." Dean grinned, his eyes sparkling.

Castiel turned around so vehemently that he bumped into Gabriel. They both tottered but eventually managed to regain balance and approach the door without any accidents.  
"Good night, Dean." they said in a creepy unison.  
"Good night, Gabriel..." Dean hesitated. "Cas." he bowed his head slightly.  
Castiel felt like he could use a long run or a really cold shower to calm himself down.


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you find in this chapter more spelling/grammar mistakes than usual, it's because I'm ill and my head hurts just too much to let me think properly. The whole thing was written when I was still healthy so the storyline surely makes sense but I had to retype it and I've probably made more typos than ever. I'm sorry, I'll reedit this when I get better. Hope you like it anyway :)

Having get rid of Gabriel as quickly as possible, Castiel came back to his room to stay alone with his thoughts and immediately came to a conclusion that he didn't like the change in Dean's behaviour. At all.  
Of course it was flattering that he had reconsidered his actions upon Castiel's criticism but in a long run it was making things only more complicated. Actually Castiel wished he had had guts not to apologize and stay rude for the sake of his own good but he was too stunned and well... already falling for Dean. Truth to be told, he could feel himself beginning to develop an obsessive crush on this douchebagish version of him, which was simply ridiculous, and now Dean becoming all cute and flustered was like a final nail to his coffin.

 _This is just an autosuggestion._ Castiel thought, groaning silently into his pillow. _You know he was supposed to be your soulmate and it's the only reason why you are developing so many unnecessary feelings._

He had to fight them.

Castiel had this feeling in his gut that this just couldn't end well. He was sure Dean was not looking for a steady relationship, judging from the way he liked to spend his free time in the bar, and if the powerful effect his single sentence had on Castiel was any indication, he was capable of hurting Cas beyond all imagination. Castiel couldn't agree to deal with this kind of shit, he was rebelling to obviate pain. There was no way in the world he could be so hipocritical to get involved emotionally and then fall victim to what he was rioting against. No, things couldn't go that way and there was only one escape route - the one leading to a state of pure indifference.  
Being rude was no longer an option so this had to do it. If he couldn't fight Dean and get to hate him, then he had to ignore him.

And with that resolution Castiel fell asleep.

***

In the morning things didn't look any less depressing. Castiel could remember his dream which were mostly vivid visions of Dean and him in rather romantic sceneries and it only made waking up to the brutal reality tenfold worse. He kind of wished he could bury himself under the covers and pretend he didn't have to face this day at all. Unfortunately Hannah was fighting with one of her drawers, swearing silently, and generally making too much noise to let him relax.

"Hannah, you will wake everyone up!" he hissed, feeling a headache beginning to squeeze his brain into a spongy malfunctional mess.  
"Oh..." she dropped a bunch of clothes she was trying to push inside the unruly drawer. "Good morning, I was sure everyone was more or less awake."  
"Do I look awake to you?" Castiel scowled at her, his eyes puffy from sleep.  
"Sorry." she muttered. "But the rest surely is."

Castiel raised up on his elbows and spotted six grumpy people rubbing their eyes and looking as if they didn't know what hit them.  
"Thanks to you, I believe." he just couldn't stop his snark and she huffed rolling her eyes. "Wait..." he scrutinized the sight before him. "Where is the dude who slept by the window?"  
"Dunno." Hannah shrugged, halfly offended and halfly ashamed. "Maybe he woke up earlier?"  
"No, look..." Castiel sat up, eyeing the empty bed that caught his attention. "It's a fresh set of covers just like on those unoccupied beds. He wasn't sleeping here tonight."  
"None of my business, really." she snorted, straightening a pair of trousers and then folding it neatly.  
"He is missing." Castiel felt a thrill, finally having something other than Dean to occupy his mind with.  
"I doubt it." Hannah was skeptical. "He'd probably found someone to sleep with and stayed overnight. Stop sniffing around too much, I've had my share of conspiracy theories and I finally want to have some peace in my life instead."

"But Hannah, those two men I told you about, Garth and Benny, they were talking about some Alastair guy who disappeared just like that. Benny said it was Dean's doing." Castiel just had to convince her there was something fishy going on here. "And Benny mentioned your name."  
Hannah froze. "Did he?" her mouth was a thin line.  
"I'm pretty positive. You in fact do know him, don't you?" he asked hopefully.  
"Maybe..." she whispered absently.  
"Then maybe you could..." Castiel swallowed hard, not wanting her to feel forced to do it. "talk to him, learn a thing or two..."  
"Forget it." Hannah was suddenly cold like never before. "I don't do spying anymore."

***

As if Hannah's refusal wasn't annoying enough, Gabriel just had to get all chitty-chatty, chirping about Dean's greatness with his horrible "told-you-so" attitude. Castiel found it hard to concentrate on his food, itching to punch his brother right into his uppity face. This situation was hard enough even without Dean's fans casually reminding him this man was really worth falling for.

That torturous breakfast was the main reason why Castiel was pissed off beyond all imagination when Dean finally found him storming through the corridor that led to his lab.  
"Hey, Cas..." he greeted him hesitantly, his green eyes wide open and unsure.  
Castiel had to use all his self control not to breathe fire and rage at him. He just really wished he could burn this whole planet down and finally be left alone.  
"Good morning, Dean." he uttered, miraculously calming himself down a bit.  
"Are you ready for our trip or...?" Dean could sense Castiel's fury and probably considered retreating a safer option.  
This somehow made Castiel feel a pang of satisfaction. Dean was afraid of him.  
"I am, thank you." his answer was smug.  
"Awesome." Dean didn't look too cheerful. "Follow me then."

Dean wasn't leading him towards the main entrance. Instead they passed Castiel's lab and chose some rusty staircase which led them to a pair of tiny backdoor that probably had been used only in emergency since they squeeked horribly, uneager to open up. It occured to Castiel that oiling them could be a good idea given a possibility that he could need an escape route one day. His sixth sense was telling him that things could get really ugly so knowing an alternate way out was pretty comforting.

Dean was glancing at him from time to time during their walk as if he really wished to tell him something but he didn't say a word. Castiel was proud of his ability to keep an indifferent demeanor.

The exit was located on the wall of the factory opposite to the one with the main entrance so Castiel and Dean found themselves close to the second building of the factory complex.  
"It's a warehouse." Dean explained, answering an unasked question. "A cold room actually where we keep the food."  
Castiel noticed that from his dorm's window he could probably see the road leading to this storehouse. He needed to confirm that later since he hadn't paid much attention to the sight of the outside world recently.

The whole site was fenced and Castiel could see some people walking along the hoarding nonchalantly. They weren't wearing any uniforms but Castiel would bet his own kidney, which was currently his most valuable possession, that they weren't there just to inhale fresh air.  
The terrain wasn't much bigger than the factory itself with a mostly empty car-park and tiny grassy field. The main building wasn't any different from other abandoned factories that surrounded it. Castiel counted four gates, one on each wall of the fence, the southern one being exceptionally big with markings on the ground leading to it that suggested that there was once a short railroad connecting rebels' factory with the bigger one on the other side of the fence. The tracks had been removed recently, young grass still not entirely covering the ground. Suddenly Castiel felt an urge to go on a little exploration journey.

Dean was fully oblivious to his fascination and kept leading him towards the eastern gate so Castiel had to hide his disappointment. Staring in the direction of the southern gate, he almost missed a tiny nod that Dean gave to one of the "strollers" before pushing the metal construction of the port to the side and waving for Castiel to follow.

They crossed a narrow asphalt road and found themselves on an unguarded site of a totally ruined factory. Walls of this building looked as if they were about to crumble down and Castiel didn't exactly fancy the thought of coming in. Dean led him behind the main edifice though and there he saw a small wooden barn, completely unfitting the huge factory and a concrete square of a parking lot big enough to park Titanic on.  
"Here..." Dean spread his arms, smiling. "It's whole yours. You can even blow up this big museum of corrosion and decay, if you want." he pointed at the factory. "Is this good enough?" he grinned enthusiastically.  
"It will have to do." Castiel slapped him down, walking few steps forward and then few back, testing the ground.

The concrete that was used to floor the square looked a lot like the one usually used to erect the walls of industrial facilities.  
"I'll need a specimen from the timers' factory wall." he said, ignoring Dean's angrily flushed cheeks. "Also a plan of it would be useful. I need to adjust the power of my bomb." he raised his brows, looking at Dean. "Is it doable?"  
"Yes, of course." Dean gritted his teeth, visibly forcing himself to stay polite.  
"One more thing..." Castiel found it surprisingly easier to look at Dean when he was thrown out of balance. "Can I come here alone or do I require your assistance whenever I feel like blowing something up?"  
"Don't worry, you can be here alone and you won't be seeing much of me either, if that's your concern." Dean narrowed his eyes. "I'll make sure no one interrupts you when you are running your tests." Dean was clearly struggling to remain civil, fighting back the sarcastic tone that was trying to creep into his voice.  
Castiel would laugh, if it weren't too impolite even towards his nemesis.  
"Thank you." he managed a small nod of his head.

Dean's arms immediately hung low from defeat, as if someone released the fury that was boiling inside of him, leaving him empty. He sighed with resignation.  
"Can we go back now or do you want to stay here a while longer?" he asked flatly.  
"Let's go, nothing to do here now." Castiel felt a pang of remorse as he saw Dean becoming visibly sadder after his anger had passed.

He did what he had to do though and regretting this wouldn't be wise, no matter how hurt and defeated Dean looked. The farther they were from each other, the better.


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm terribly sorry for the delay but I was awfully ill, I didn't sleep well and I've spent my days in bed, sweating and struggling to breathe. I just couldn't force myself to sit down and rewrite this chapter earlier. Sorry :(

Hannah just couldn't stop thinking about what Castiel had told her. Following the new schedule for rebels she went to a lesson on communication skills but she was too distracted by her thoughts to concentrate on the lecture properly.  
A lot of time had passed since she had last seen Benny for long enough to exchange something more than a quick hello but surely he was still roaming around. She didn't know why would he mention her to some stranger but she surely wanted to find out.  
She tried to ignore those thoughts since she had promised herself not to take part in any political intrigues but she just couldn't forget about Benny doing suspicious things, even when she was finally free to visit the library.

The only other concern that crossed her mind was an envious thought of Castiel not being assigned any social services due to his very special regular job. Cleaning up a corridor or two wouldn't do him bad, she was pretty sure.  
 _Lucky bastard._ she thought, already annoyed with her oncoming turn to wash all the tables in the diner.  
She was still grumpy when she picked up a book for herself and sat down.

When she first came there, she was really picky about her readings but now she was just going for everything, devouring one book after the another in alphabetical order, currently able to say that she had already read one-fourth of the whole library. Today's book was the sixth part of a series she had begun few days before and she was so in love with it, she just couldn't stop reading, missing a bit too much sleep to call it healthy.

And yet she just couldn't get lost in it on that day because Benny was occupying her mind completely.

Finally she gave up on trying to understand what she had just absently read for the fifth time and she left the library to find the answers she needed so badly.

***

Honestly, everyone would do the same, were they in Castiel's shoes. The curiosity was devouring him from the inside and he just had to try, had to see it for himself.

Of course in the moment he had reached the fence, he realised it could have been a mistake.

Three people, who were seemingly just wandering around, immediately surrounded him.  
"This gate is broken, my friend." one of them, a short woman with dark hair, said sweetly, stopping him from opening it. "I reccomend using the northern one, right on the other side of the factory."  
"I'm just going out to experiment. I'm Dean's chemist and I've been here before. With him." Castiel was quick to lie.  
"Oh, I'm sure you must have mistaken the gates then, friend."  this last word in her mouth was the most terrifying thing that Castiel had ever heard. "This one was always out of order."  
"Are you sure?" Castiel made big eyes, hoping she could believe in the 'confused scientist' facade  
"I'm positive." her grin could discountenance a shark.  
"Oh." Castiel smiled nervously. "I'll check the other ones then."  
"You do, my friend." the grin didn't disappear. "I hope you'll never get lost again." she added as if the whole talk hadn't been threatening enough.  
"Thank you." Castiel gulped and left as quickly as he could, avoiding making it look too suspicious.

This small experiment confirmed his worst misgivings. This was horrifying and stupidly intriguing at the same time. He really had to get onto the other side of that gate.

***

The frustration itching beneath Hannah's skin was growing as she searched all the rooms fruitlessly. She was already boiling with annoyance when she finally spotted a familiar silhouette in the corridor leading to Dean's office.

Benny was walking away from her so she run towars him, managing to catch up few seconds later.  
"Hey, hey!" she shouted.  
Benny turned around, anxiety turning into surprise on his face as he spotted her.  
"Hannah?" he really was shocked.

Probably because last time they had talked she had said she didn't want any more trouble in her life.

"Wait a minute, Benny." she exhaled sharply. "I really need to talk."  
"Why don't we grab some coffee at let's say..." he quickly glanced at the clock on his mobile. "six? We can discuss whatever's bothering you then, okay?"  
"No." Hannah shook her head. "Now. Here is perfect."  
"Hannah..." Benny looked as if he really would like to be somewhere, anywhere else, preferably without any people asking him questions.  
"Please..." she grabbed his forearm to stop any possible attemtps of escape. "Three minutes."  
Benny clenched his jaw, wanting to say no, but he really had no excuses other than this bad feeling in his gut telling him this was a dagerous game.  
"Okay..." he huffed.  
"Thank you." Hannah let go of his arm. "Do you happen to know anything about those missing people?"

It was like a punch in the gut. Benny opened his mouth and then closed it, unsure what to say or do. Hannah was patiently waiting for an answer, her blue eyes staring into his and clearly demanding all the truth that Benny could tell her.

"No." he finally answered, feeling cold and heavy stone of guilt in his stomach.  
"Are you sure?" she looked personally offended and Benny knew that she had every right to feel that way.  
"Hannah, you didn't want any troubles..." he decided to make her drop the issue for her own good.  
"So you do know something." she squinted.  
"Trust me, it's everything you wished to avoid." Benny sighed.

Hannah was thankful that he decided to be more sincere with her but she just had to get at least a tiny piece of information out of him.  
"Then at least tell me who to avoid." she demanded. "I don't want to disappear..."  
"You won't disappear, I'm..." he hesitated. "I can promise that to you. I feel responsible for your safety. That's all you need to know."  
"It's not an answer." she narrowed her eyes again. "Who are you to claim protection over me? And why would it matter to anyone?"  
"Look, Hannah." Benny gulped nervously. "I shouldn't have told you even this much. There are people behind it... scary people... and maybe they mean well, those who disappeared are alive and happy as far as I can tell, but I wouldn't trust them."  
"So there's someone apart from Dean?" she didn't like that thought.  
"Yes." Benny took a careful look around. "I can't tell you more. Please, understand that."  
"Just give me a name, one name and I won't ask you for anything ever again." she had to push a little farther.  
"I can't. It may mean nothing but if something's off, I'll pay with my head." Benny took a step back.  
"One name." Hannah took a step towards him, her gaze threatening, not taking a no.  
"Fine." Benny finally hissed, feeling extremely intimidated. "Michael. And I seriously don't know anything more."  
"Thank you." Hannah backed away.  
"You shouldn't." he shook his head sadly. "You are back in the game now."

***

When Castiel threw himself face down onto the bed, Hannah took a deep breath, putting her book down. Not that she was really reading it anyway, impatiently waiting for his return. She eyed his clearly exhausted body.  
"I believe you could use a shave." she finally spoke.  
"Whaat?" Castiel yelped into his pillow.  
"Your tattoo is starting to disappear in the bush." her voice was a bit terrifying with this kind of motherly undertone.  
Castiel mechanically patted the side of his head and grimaced, feeling the hair underneath his fingertips.  
"Oh hell no... I'm too tired." he groaned, not really caring that for the first time since he had gotten his tattoo, he allowed his hair to get so long there.

Not only was his day of work really long and demanding but it was also pretty emotional with his and Dean's visit to the testing grounds and then his second, not entirely legal trip.

"Then go to sleep now and wake up earlier tomorrow." Hannah shrugged, really wishing this could be the end of their talk for that day. "Listen, Castiel... I... I reconsidered your suggestion from this morning."  
Castiel frowned, trying to remember what could Hannah refer to and then it hit him. "And?" he asked, raising up to look at her.  
"And I found Benny." she licked her lips nervously and lowered her voice. "He didn't wish to tell me anything but... I forced him to speak."  
"Do I wanna know how?" Castiel was mildly terrified by the thought of Hannah using force.  
"I have some... skills." she quickly returned to the main topic. "Anyway, all that he had told me about this disappearances was that there are some people other than Dean behind it and" she made a pause. "he gave me a name. Michael."  
"Doesn't ring a bell." Castiel shook his head, his brow furrowed. "But he told that Garth-whoever that it was Dean who's behind it. And that Benny himself is choosing these people."  
"Wait..." now it was Hannah's turn to frown. "He said he was choosing them?"  
"Yes but he also pointed to Dean as the one behind it all." Castiel shrugged.  
"Why didn't you tell me that before?" Hannah was pretty much annoyed.  
"Oh, maybe because you didn't particularly look like someone who felt like talking?" Castiel allowed himself to sound a little venomous.  
They looked at each other in a battle of wills, narrowing their eyes. Finally Hannah inhaled deeply and backed away a little, not taking her eyes from Castiel's.  
"Let's forget it then." she didn't seem too happy. "This Dean part doesn't make any sense. I'm sure he wasn't lying to me so he probably lied to that Garth guy."  
"I hope you are right." Castiel obviously didn't wish to say it out loud but it happened and he panicked a little, trying to remain calm.

Despite all his suspicions, even more intense after this afternoon, he wished that Dean was still the protagonist of this story. He was pretty sure that something really suspicious was going on in here but somehow the thought of Dean being responsible for it was unpleasant. So unpleasant that he really regretted his decision to sneak out to sniff around that southern gate. He was sick at the very thought of Dean hiding such dirty secrets from everyone and he hated himself for showing this to Hannah so blatantly.

"And the choosing part?" he asked quickly as Hannah kept staring at him.  
"Oh, well..." she grunted as if caught red-handed. "It actually makes sense. He..." she blushed. "promised me I won't be taken away. He didn't say why he was so sure about that but now I get it."  
Castiel eyed her carefully. "You know..." he said slowly. "I wouldn't make a hero out of him. He's really deep in it, I bet."  
"As far as I know" Hannah cocked her head. "We are deep in too."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The book that Hannah's reading is [Faith of the Fallen](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/121127.Faith_of_the_Fallen?ac=1) by Terry Goodkind which is easily one of my personal all-time favourites. Generally I love the whole _Sword of Truth_ series because it's one of those absolutely amazing exceptions that gets better with every book but the sixth part made me tear up so much that I can't stay calm even thinking about it. Words can't express how beautiful this whole story is, so if you are into heroic fantasy, complicated love stories, well-written badass females, a male hero that isn't flawless because he's just a human and a villian that is tenfold worse than Umbridge and Metatron together, go and read it. You can either love it or hate it but it won't leave you indifferent, I promise.


	8. Chapter 8

It was still dark outside when Castiel woke up. He felt surprisingly fresh, all the anxiety from the previous evening miraculously gone and almost forgotten. For a while he was basking in the pleasant state of relaxation, lying and listening to Hannah's even breathing accompanied by silent snores of their roommates he hadn't really talked to yet and nervous huffs of one woman who must have been having nightmares. Castiel could see her two beds from his clenching her fists around the rims of her covers and frowning in her unsteady sleep. He considered waking her up but she could suspect that he wished her harm watching her in her sleep like that so he eventually decided against it. Instead he sighed and turned his head to look at the small patch of the night sky he could see through the window from that angle.

Looking at the starry firmament, Castiel felt strangely empty inside. It wasn't a depressive kind of emptiness, nevertheless it wasn't anywhere near happy either. He had enough life experience to understand exactly what it meant. It was a mechanism of defence. It appeared every time he needed to separate himself from overwhelming emotions and it protected him from being affected by them. It was letting him function properly by cutting the unnecessary feelings off.

Sometimes Castiel was really thankful for it.

He sighed, wondering how well it could protect him from suffering now that Dean wanted to stay away, when a short flash of light blinded him. He squeezed his eyelids shut, grimacing as the colorful patterns started dancing underneath them.  
"What the hell?" he murmured angrily.  
After a while he carefully opened one of his eyes. The light wasn't blinding him anymore but he could see a brighter spot on the window frame which surely hadn't been there before. It was intriguing enough to make him slip out of the bed and cautiously come to peek through the window.

His brows went up high as he saw a fleet of trucks waiting before the eastern gate. They weren't labelled but Castiel would bet they were carrying a giant food supply. He saw two men run towards the gate and then open it, waving for the drivers to proceed and so they did. There was something bizzarely aesthetic in the way they parked in neat lines before the small building of the warehouse and Castiel observed them with unhidden fascination.  
A minute later he thanked himself for staying by the window as far more suspicious dealings started taking place. About one-third of the trucks separated from the group and drove through the grassy field towards the southern gate. It was quickly and smoothly opened before them.  
"Out of order my ass." Castiel muttered to himself, his eyes wide open as he observed them drive away through the land he wasn't allowed to visit.  
He pursed his lips, feeling the whole unease striking back.

***

The level of Castiel's concentration was highly dissatisfying on that day. He growled angrily as two drops of acid dripped from his pipette instead of one and the whole liquid turned from pink into colourless. It was slowly getting more than just simply annoying.

Despite the great deal of unsuccessful attempts by the end of his planned day of work he could say that had made a significant progress and actually was ready to run the very first test of the prototype of his bomb. However, he wanted to wait with it a while longer. Trying to excuse himself from going to the testing grounds, he decided to prepare a modified version of his explosive material, hopefully a more powerful one and he kept working subbornly while his first finished product was waiting for him in a corked flask on the shelf. Truth to be told, Castiel was itching to blow something up but there were more important things he wanted to achieve on that day, like for example solving the mystery of the southern gate. The only problem was that in order to make his little trip reasonably safer, he had to wait 'til the nightfall so he ended up with a lot of time to kill. He had gone to the supper as it was a normal day, finding a tiny chat with Hannah and Gabriel pretty relaxing and then he had returned to his lab, really wishing he could just go to bed and forget about all the intrigues that he was taking part in.

Of course he was also too curious to give up so easily.

Time wasn't passing fast enough for him though and soon he started running pretty frivolous reactions, almost burning his brows down in progress. Things started getting out of hand and finally, right after the midnight, he decided he had had enough and taking his experimental product and a tiny bottle of oil for hinges of the rusty exit, he left the lab. He closed the door carefully behind himseld, making sure they didn't make too much noise and exhaled sharply, mentally preparing himself for his little trip.

***

The air was pretty chilly and tiny clouds were escaping Castiel's mouth with his every breath. He was plastered to the wall of the warehouse, his heart beating fast and his ribcage raising heavily as he carefully eyed the territory of the factory. It seemed that there were no guards in disguise anywhere nearby. He strained his sight in the darkness and noticed no activity in the proximity of the gate.

So this was it.

Castiel exhaled sharply and launched forward. A short sprint and there he was, right in front of the southern gate. He took a quick look around and fell onto the ground to squeeze himself underneath the gate. In this moment he was really thankful that there used to be railroad tracks there so the gap was wide enough for him to fit without problems. Few quick wriggles later he was on the other side. He raised up onto his feet, grinning like a loon.

And then a flashlight illuminated his face.

"Ah, and I believed in you, friend..." said a sweet voice that Castiel had silently wished to never hear again.

***

"You know what? This story about you being a chemist is getting pretty old." the tone was no different from the cheerful one that woman had apparently always used, even though Castiel was now walking in front of her with his hands tied behind his back.  
"But it's true!" he growled, trying to adjust his wrists into a more comfortable position.

He was angry that he got caught, of course, but a part of him was thrilled that he wasn't being led back to Dean. The woman was leading him to the big building of the southern factory that he sneaked out to visit in the first place. It wasn't exactly his plan to be tied when going in there but he was dying to get inside anyway. It occured to him that a price for his little trip may in fact be higher than he was ready to pay and that perspective wasn't really his favourite.

"Sure thing, honey." she snorted in response, pushing him a little to force him to turn right.  
"You can ask Dean, if you want." Castiel was silently hoping that Dean would have a say, if things were to get ugly.

Dean hopefully needed him badly enough to want to save his ass at any cost.

"Oh, I won't be the one who asks questions." she chuckles. "Honestly I prefer different methods to get the truth out of the liars of your kind."  
"I am not..." Castiel begun, frowning in irritation but he was immediately shushed.  
"You really don't wanna make him angry with your sass at such a late hour." a pair of ruthless eyes was twinkling ominously in the darkness. "Honestly he is just too kind, bothering with nosy little shits like you while he has a whole rebellion to lead. He is a great man."  
"Who the hell are you talking about?" Castiel's heart was beating fast in anticipation but he didn't get any answer as the guard approached small metal door she led him before and unlocked them to forcefully push Castiel inside.

He almost fell onto his knees but somehow eventually maintained the balance only to be pushed again through the next doorframe into a small office that resembled Dean's. Behind the desk was a man with brown hair of shoulder length and a face that Castiel wouldn't associate with any evil plans for the benign eyes that looked at him with a mixture of surprise and worry.  
"Who the hell is that, Ruby?" the man asked, frowning.  
"Oh, it's just an intruder." the sweet-voiced guard passed Castiel to stand in front of that man and cross her arms, tilting her head cockily. "I kinda didn't expect to find you here, Sammy." Castiel saw his eyes twinkle angrily at the diminutive but Ruby didn't notice it or didn't care and continued her speech. "I believe that this man could be an interesting case for Lucifer. A **very** interesting case. Now tell me... where is he?" she raised her chin.

Sam opened his mouth to answer and Castiel kept observing him with hope when a silent voice spoke behind his back.  
"Speak of the devil." it said.  
And Castiel turned around only to find a man who looked like an exact copy of Sam. There was only one difference between them, minute and yet so significant. Lucifer's eyes were cold and ruthless as he smiled.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A bomb dropped, how do you like it? :D Has anyone done this before?


	9. Chapter 9

Lucifer loftily looked at Castiel, who just couldn't stop eyeing him and then Sam to compare them with visible disbelief.  
"Are you done being shocked?" he asked after a while.  
Castiel lost countenance and then inhaled sharply, anger replacing the initial shock. "Who the hell are you? Why do you keep me tied? You have no right to do so!" he bursted out.  
Lucifer's smile grew wider. "If this isn't obvious enough, I'm his brother." he pointed at Sam. "And, which is probably not obvious at all, I'm also a brother of Dean Winchester."  
"What?" Castiel frowned.  
"He is." Ruby grinned with satisfaction.  
"Ah, while you are still here..." Lucifer glanced at her. "What did he say he was doing at that gate?"  
"He said he's working for Dean." Ruby answered, happy that she could be of some help.  
"Great." Lucifer was smirking too joyfully to Castiel's liking. "We'll have to talk to my brother then. Call him, Ruby."  
"As you wish." Castiel didn't like Ruby's smile at all.

***

The tension Castiel had been waiting for Dean in made him sick. His head hurt and in general this night only sucked more and more with every passing minute. He refused to talk before Dean's arrival and he could see Lucifer itching to beat the answers out of him. This actually made him feel thankful that Sam stayed with them as he seemed much more mentally stable. Castiel was aware that despite all the nervousness for some reason the danger didn't feel too real to him. Surely subconsciously he knew that they could kill him now and arrange it so that everyone would think he blew himself up during his experiments but somehow it didn't bother him too much. He felt oddly far fetched from reality.

His pulse quickened only when Dean finally entered the room. It was visible that he had been in hurry, his clothes put on slapdash and eyes full of horror. His sight fell on Castiel and he gasped silently before he turned beet red and furious in a blink of an eye.  
"What the hell do you think you're doing?!" he roared at Lucifer.  
Lucifer squinted, involuntarily leaning back a little. "So you really know him then? You'd better ask him what **he** was doing." he said carefully.  
"What the hell, Cas?" Dean turned to Castiel.  
"I went out to test my bomb." Castiel shrugged, somehow insanely happy to see Dean attacking Lucifer in his defence.  
"He is allowed to do that." Dean frowned, giving Lucifer a confused look. "Why did you catch him?"  
"He had **mistaken** the gates." Ruby prompted obligingly. "Twice."  
"Is that true?" Dean looked at Castiel again.  
"I didn't know it mattered so much." Castiel shrugged one more time.

A lie. A terrible, horrible lie and he knew that Dean could sense it, could read him like an open book. That's why Castiel's eyes were full of silent plea. He needed Dean to lie for him. Lucifer observed them with a predatory curiosity as if he were deciding whether to attack or not.

"Now you know that in fact it does matter." Dean finally spoke, his voice at the edge of shaking. "You won't ever made that mistake again, right?" his tone was hopeful.  
"Of course, Dean." Castiel realised that sneaking back here again could be the last thing he would do in his life, which made it completely not worth it. "I'll stick to the eastern gate.  
"Good." Dean grinned, barely masking his nervousness. "You see? Castiel understands English. You didn't need to scare him, a simple, civilised talk would do. He's an intelligent man we **really** need on board with us. He wasn't lying, he is constructing the bomb."

Lucifer cocked his head, a slight smile appearing on his face. He glanced at Sam but Sam's expression was blank. Sam had been observing the whole scene but chose not to speak or intervene in any way.  
"Well, I hope he can keep his promises then." Lucifer finally spoke. "You may untie him, Ruby."  
"Thank you." Castiel rubbed his wrist when they finally were free, glad that the skin wasn't damaged.  
Dean gestured for him to come out but Lucifer stepped between them, facing Castiel.  
"One more thing." he said and from up close his eyes seemed even more ruthless. "I will need you to send me monthly reports on your work. I would be glad to see how fast your progress is." he grinned.  
"Of course." Castiel didn't back down, he didn't allow himself to feel intimidated.

They kept measuring each other with their gazes for a while longer until Lucifer finally stepped aside and let Castiel go. Dean grabbed his arm and pulled him out of the room before he managed to add something sassy and make the situation much worse.

***

"What the hell were you thinking?" Dean's hiss was full of unhidden fury. "Were you even thinking at all?"  
Castiel didn't answer, his head turned away from Dean. He kept walking until Dean gripped his arm and forced him to stop.  
"Answer me, Cas!" Dean was growing angrier. "Why did you go there? I know it wasn't a mistake."  
"You are right, it wasn't." Castiel remained calm although he could clearly see fear and worry hidden right underneath Dean's fury.

He really didn't need to know that Dean truly cared for him.

"Then what was that?" Dean's eyes were twinkling ominously in the darkness.  
"I had to check some things myself." Castiel shrugged. "Guess I have my reasons not to trust you."  
"Oh yes?" Dean was indignant. "Funny that I don't really trust you to keep your promise either. You just can't sniff around for whatever reason you find important enough. In case you haven't noticed, we're not on a fucking playground."  
Castiel remained silent, smiling softly and trying to calm his racing heart down.  
"And you know what else?" Dean pointed his forefinger at him. "You won't be delivering those reports personally, I won't allow you. I will send someone to do this, hell, I will do it myself, so that it won't tempt you to stay here even a second longer than necessary." Dean was deadly serious.  
"Huh, so you care for me now?" Castiel raised his brow ironically.

Not that he needed a confirmation or anything but it brought him a tiny bit of satisfaction that as far as he could tell Dean blushed at that.

"You are a part of my team." Dean said after a while. "An irreplaceable one, to be precise."  
"Good to hear that." Castiel grined wryly. "At least I can be sure I won't magically disappear one day."  
"What the hell are you talking about now?" Dean was suddenly suspicious.  
"Oh, just those strange disappearances of rebels." Castiel waved his hand as if it wasn't anything important.

Dean's mouth was a thin line as he kept staring at Castiel for a while.

"I don't like that either." he finally said. "But I can't do shit about it so stop blaming me."  
"Stop blaming you?" Castiel snorted and opened his eyes wide in disbelief. "Please, you are a goddamned leader of this circus you call revolution. Or at least people think you are while you're just a puppet and someone else is pulling the strings."  
Dean gasped with outrage. "How dare you diminish my role in all of this?!" he stepped farther into Castiel's personal space and forcefully poked his chest. ""Lucifer may have his plans I don't approve of but I also have mine that I share with my people. We are both on the same side!"  
Castiel furiously grabbed Dean's hand that was still poking him and pushed it aside, ignoring the surprisingly tingling touch of Dean's soft skin.  
"You are delirious." he hissed. "You think that you know exactly what's going on in here, that you know all of your siblings' plans but you are clearly mistaken. You are a child lost in darkness and you don't know shit!"

Castiel was a bit shorter than Dean but Dean looked pretty intimidated anyway. He was flushed and radiating with angry confusion.  
"Oh yes, so you do know more than me..." he snorted and poked Castiel again.  
This time Castiel grasped his hand and squeezed it hard.  
"Stop touching me." he hissed but didn't let go of Dean's palm. "I believe there are things I know way more about than you do."  
"Like?" Dean raised his brow, trying to wriggle his hand out of the iron grip.  
"For example" Castiel stepped forward, trapping their hands between them. "What do you know about Mister Fizzles?"  
"What shall I know?" Dean gritted his teeth.  
"You really are a great loser, Dean." Castiel shook his head. "Just don't cry on my shoulder, please."  
"You are crushing my damned hand!" finally Dean couldn't stand it any longer.

At that Castiel let go of it, actually surprised that he'd been squeezing it so hard. Dean took a step back, visibly still angry and very hurt.  
"Fine." he said. "I'll prove myself to you. I'll prove that I can lead this rebellion and that I'm worth much more than you may think." he narrowed his eyes. "But tell me now, why do you hate me so much? I changed, I was being polite and I even tried to befriend you."  
"It's really quite simple." Castiel smirked bitterly, already hating what he was about to do. "Hasn't it ever occured to you that maybe, just maybe" he made a pause to let his smile grow cruelly soft. "I don't wanna be friends with you?"

Later he just couldn't believe he actually managed to maintain his cold demeanor when the hurt reflecting in Dean's eyes pierced right through his heart. Never in his life had he felt worse for saying anything but it was too late to undo what had to be done anyway.  
Dean was breathing heavily, clearly struggling to gather his thoughts so Castiel waited patiently for his reaction, silently cursing every event that had led to this moment.

"Okay." Dean finally said, his voice unnaturally calm, barely hiding sadness and disappointment. "I can't force my friendship on you." his eyes met Castiel's and never had it been harder for Cas not to break his facade and keep all emotions under control. "But I can do something else. As I said before, I will prove myself to you so that maybe you won't like me and that's fine" determination appeared in his voice. "but at least you will trust me as your leader."

Castiel gulped loudly, trapped by these green eyes piercing right through his soul. He could feel unwanted tears gathering under his eyelids. He wanted to trust Dean and even more importantly, he wanted to like him, he really wished he could but prolonging this torment? It was hopeless, it couldn't end well. This would destabilise the whole rebellion, their leader and poster boy finding his soulmate. This was not meant to be.

And knowing that, Castiel let the tiniest glimpse of sadness reflect on his face before he turned around and left Dean alone in the cold and dark night.


	10. Chapter 10

Castiel had a moral hangover, one of the worst things he could imagine waking up to and there was nothing that could help him. His stupid mind kept replaying his last chat with Dean over and over again in his nightmares and after he woke up, making him feel really sick. Not even the certainty that it was the right thing to do could stop his stomach from clenching and rolling as if it was trying to hide itself from shame. It wasn't the only part of Castiel that wanted to hide. He was feeling delirious every time he remembered that flash of deep sadness and hurt in Dean's eyes.

It was all so fucking unfair. The world was spinning and everything that had happened stopped making any sense. It had been bad enough when Dean despised him, it had been even worse when he had been polite but it became fucking absurd when he started being protective, when he wanted Castiel's friendship as if they hadn't started off as enemies.

Castiel had this painful, masochistic urge to go to Dean and spit him in the face, telling him that they just couldn't be anything more since they were soulmates and pursuing any kind of working relationship was ridiculous and unnecessarily bringing them both pain. On the other hand, he just wished he could get out of the factory and slam the gate behind himself, leaving this pile of smelly shit his life had become behind. And of course he couldn't do that as he had promised to construct that damned bomb. He was trapped, he was helpless and he couldn't even share his pain with anyone.

He had to face this problem completely alone.

That realisation hit him with a nauseous intensity and he had no other choice but to quickly get out of his bed and praise the porcelain god in the bathrooms. This whole thing was getting seriously unhealthy.

***

Hannah jumped up a little when Castiel launched up from beneath his covers without any warning. It was rather distressing and she felt a pang of worry for him. She was waiting for his return anxiously but as he hadn't came back in the next quarter she eventually went out to take care of her own physiological needs. Once she was back, his bed was made so she assumed he must have already gone to the breakfast in the meantime. With a worried sigh Hannah finished her morning routine and barely satisfied with her looks she went to the dining space to join him.

Castiel was sitting by their table, untouched plate full of food in front of him. He looked pale, his skin a bit greenish underneath his usual tan. His eyes were appallingly dulled, giving him a tortured look of a tormented soul.  
"Hey." Hannah gulped nervously, taking a sit. "How are you?"  
"Peachy." Castiel grimaced, which, to Hannah's further dismay, must have been an attempt to smile.  
She blinked few times, unsure whether to push the subject or not. "Are you sure?" she finally asked, her voice a bit shaky.  
"Absolutely." Castiel's eyes met hers and she couldn't stop a tiny gasp and the emptiness and pain in them. "Are you?" his voice was also off.

Fortunately Gabriel's sudden appearance spared her any further stress. Gabe patted Castiel on the back without even glancing at him, and gracefully lowered himself onto a cold, metal stool.  
"Hey, Hann." he winked at her. "What's up, lil' bro?" his gaze fell on Castiel's plate. "Why aren't you eating again? Too tasty to trust it?" he snorted.  
Castiel turned to him and his snort cut abruptly.  
"I'm not hungry." Castiel said gravely.  
Gabriel's eyes kept wandering over Castiel's face. "Dude..." he finally spoke. "What happened to you?"  
"Nothing, why do you ask?" Castiel narrowed his eyes.  
"Well..." Gabriel gulped, intimidated by Castiel's defensive posture. "You don't look healthy." he choked out. "I'm worried, Cassie."  
"I just haven't slept well that's all." Castiel eyed him warily, daring him to ask more detailed questions.  
"Oh, okay then." Gabriel retreated, looking at Hannah in slight panic. "That happens to the best, right?"  
"Surely." Hannah became paler too, somehow uneager to confront Castiel either.

On this day she seemed to have a lot of weird luck though since a sudden sound coming from the speakers saved her from continuing this very uncomfortable conversation.

"Hello, fellow rebels." Dean's voice resounded in the main hall and Castiel visibly trembled. "In the light of recent events I am forced to call each and every one of you for a gathering in order to bring through a short explanatory investigation. I will be waiting for you in half an hour in the usual place and I urge all of you to come since the case is of a great import. Thank you." a beep marked an ending of the announcement,

"What the hell can this fuss be about?" Gabriel made big eyes.  
"I'm afraid I know." Castiel whispered, suddenly becoming pale.  
Hannah and Gabriel looked at him owlishly. He was breathing shallowly and gripping the edge of the table so forcefully that his knuckles were completely white. He didn't say anything more, staring into blank space.

***

Pure terror was suffocating Castiel, making him lose his grip on reality. Hearing Dean's voice was a painful experience itself, hearing no torment in it another level of torturous but knowing that this was Dean probably keeping his word was absolutely the worst. He barely registered Gabriel and Hannah urging him to say something more and later to come with them.

He obediently stood up and followed their lead but he wasn't really paying any attention to his surroundings until his sight zeroed in on Dean. Dean who looked almost as tortured as he did, his freckles standing out against his unhealthily coloured skin and his eyes lacking their usual twinkle. Castiel could just gape at him, almost forgetting to breathe, his chest squeezed with regret and terrible longing that was scaring him beyond all measure. Damn if he didn't really dream of being Dean's friend, best friend, lover, family...

Castiel's lips parted involuntarily as Dean's eyes found him in the crowd. He needed him more than he needed air and he understood it only in this moment. He observed this insufferable sadness appear on Dean's face right before he managed to gather himself and bring back his closed off facade, tearing his gaze from Castiel.

Castiel wished someone could inflict him a quick death.

"Good morning, friends." Dean begun softly, his voice too clear not to be on the verge of cracking up. "I really hate to say this but I've recently heard some rumours about a potentially dangerous activity amongst our people." he made a pause to inhale deeply and a rustle of voices arose for a split second amongst the crowd. "I do believe it all started with an innocent idea but I would prefer to hear an explanation from those who are responsible for it." he eyed everyone, purposedly avoiding Castiel. "I therefore ask a person called Mister Fizzles to make himself known."

A deadly silence fell in the hall. People looked at each other, waiting impatiently to see someone who dared to do a thing mysteriously suspicious right behind Dean's back. Finally, when everyone reached the edge of bursting out, one hand rose above the crowd. It was clad in a grey sock with two blue buttons attached and red lips painted on.  
"Mister Fizzles" it said in a high pitched voice. "pleads innocent to any criiiimes."

Suddenly all eyes were boring into the hand puppet and a thin, tiny man who was voicing it. The silence was full of buzzing tension until a bearded man who was standing right next to Mister Fizzles bursted out with cordial laughter. A second later the rest of the rebels followed his cue.

***

Castiel had never seen Dean so furious, not even when he was rescuing him from Lucifer's captivity. Once Dean realised that Mister Fizzles was indeed just a puppet, his gaze fell back on Castiel and his eyes were shooting lasers. Castiel would undoubtfully become even paler, if it were only possible. People were laughing around him, clearly thinking this was all a great prank that Dean pulled on them. Even Gabriel was chuckling as he left them a minute later to go back to minding his own business. Castiel was the only person to understand that Dean felt humiliated and that he instantly thought Castiel did this to him.

There was no doubt that Dean was sure Castiel wanted to make a fool out of him on purpose.

The amount of anger and hurt in his gaze was enough to tear what was left of Castiel's miserable heart in two and Castiel couldn't do anything but watch him shake his head and leave with a sort of finality that he never imagined possible to put into one gesture. He felt so small in the playful crowd and he felt his own fury gradually replacing the succumbing sadness, helping him survive. The colour was returning to his cheeks and the emptiness in his eyes was filled by a fire of rage.

In this new, dangerous state of mind he turned around to face Hannah who seemed to be equally amused and shocked. She noticed the change in him and slowly her expression turned to one of fear.  
"Castiel?" she muttered unsteadily.  
"Why didn't you tell me the truth?" he asked calmly.  
"What truth?" she made big eyes.  
"The one about Mister Fizzles." he said with coolness that sent a shiver down Hannah's spine.  
"I didn't know." she took a careful step back.  
"Dean thinks I made an idiot out of him." Castiel grimaced, scaring her even more. "I believe it's your fault though."  
"I swear I didn't know!" she cried fearfully.  
"Then you could have asked Benny!" he growled.  
"It's no one's fault!" she shrieked, tears of fear gathering in her eyes. "Why do you even care?! You hate him anyway!"  
"No." Castiel grabbed her wrist, dizzy in his bizzare amok. "I don't hate him."  
"Let me go!" she panicked, finally catching people's attention but before anyone even begun reacting she freed herself and flee.

Castiel's face went blank, his arm still stretched out and grabbing air. In this moment it hit him that not only didn't he hate Dean or needed him but also that despite everything that he had done to stop this from happening, he undoubtfully had fallen in love so hard that there was no way back.

The path of pain and suffering was the only one he could walk now.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Howdy :) I hope you liked the humorous element even though it was spiced up with angst ;P I'm super excited since according to my plans for this fic we are halfway through, at least in terms of the number of chapters :D Keep the love coming, it fuels me! ;)


	11. Chapter 11

The following month was undoubtfully the hardest one Castiel could imagine going through. It was passing in the neverending noise of explosions and a definite lack of people he could open his mouth to. Two days after his grand freak out over the Mister Fizzles failure he apologized to Hannah but she remained more distant anyway, probably finding him dangerously unstable. Honestly, she probably had every reason to only just by looking at him since Castiel stopped caring. He didn't care whether his clothes were ironed, whether his face or head were shaven. He turned into a scruffy hobo, his bitter grimace giving a final touch to his dangerous, creepily brutal even, look. No wonder everyone was avoiding him.

Castiel didn't really care for people though, he just wanted Dean to come over or at least let himself be seen. But Dean disappeared. He wasn't completely gone, Gabriel somehow got himself a job as a messanger and claimed that he was alive and still in their factory only... avoiding Castiel. After hearing about that, Castiel stopped asking questions and Gabriel gladly avoided that topic hating to see his brother in such a miserable state. He didn't dare say that Dean wasn't doing much better than Cas, even though it was so tempting to intervene and solve their problem for those idiots. He guessed they had to go through hell to understand there was no point in living like that.

It was really hard for Gabriel to see so much pain in every movement, every glance of his brother. That was why he almost shivered with anticipation when Dean called him by the end of the fourth week of their separation to talk about 'an important mission'.  
 _This must be it._ he thought, longing for an end of Castiel's torment.

Gabriel entered Dean's office with a huge grin plastered to his face.  
"Mornin'." he said cheerfully. "You called?"  
"Yes." Dean's voice was gravely. "I have a task for you." he sighed heavily and looked at Gabriel with tired eyes, sadness marking his features.  
"I'm all ears." Gabriel's heart sunk a little but he still was having some hope.  
"You need to go to Castiel and..." Dean hesitated, grimacing slightly at the sound of himself saying this name. "and tell him it's time to prepare a report for... my brother. He will know what I mean."  
"Okay, I'll tell him." Gabriel tried to hide his disappointment. "Is there anything else I can do for you?"  
"Actually yes." Dean looked as if he were battling himself. "When he's finished, take his report and go to the southern gate."  
"The broken one?" Gabriel frowned supsiciously.  
"Yes." Dean nodded, his face serious. "There will be people there asking what are you trying to do. You need to say you have something for... Sam." the moment of uncertainty was almost unnoticeable. "If someone asks for the password then, it's 'funky town'. They will show you the way." Dean exhaled heavily. "You need to give this report to Sam directly. He's a really tall man with brown, rather long hair and eyes of a lost puppy, hard to mistake him for anyone else."  
"Oh, okay. Funky town, I get it." Gabriel felt a bit awkward, pushed into such mysterious procedures.  
"I would deliver it personally" Dean looked as if he really needed to excuse himself. "but I can't, you know..." he made a vague gesture towards Gabriel.  
"Touch anything that comes from Castiel." it escaped Gabriel's mouth before he even realised he thought about saying something like that.

Dean focused his gaze on him, a hint of incredulous panic, almost madness, in them. Then his face turned beet red and he opened his mouth as if he wanted to say something but didn't make any sound. Gabriel almost slapped himself, stopping his hand with a titanic effort and producing a smile that hopefully wasn't mocking or sarcastic. Dean's eyes were wide open and full of unhidden terror. It took him a while before he managed to gather his wits and looked down and his desk.

"Actually" he begun and gulped loudly. "I wanted to say that I'm really busy here but" he stuttered. "I guess you are closer to the truth with your statement."  
Gabriel raised his brows in disbelief. He certainly didn't expect Dean to admit anything of that kind.  
"Of course there's no need to tell Castiel about this." Dean grunted and leaned back in his chair, glancing at Gabriel warily.  
"Of course." Gabriel hoped his seriousness couldn't be taken as irony.  
"I'm glad you understand that." Dean lowered his gaze, blushing slightly.  
"Never underestimate a Novak." Gabriel grinned.  
"I will remember that." Dean was all flustered but somehow... more relaxed than before.  
"Glad to hear that." Gabriel chuckled silently. "Anything else you want me to do?"  
Dean blinked few times, looking at him owlishly and Gabriel's grin widened.  
"No, no, that's enough for one person." Dean was red like a ripe tomato. "Thank you, Gabriel."  
"My pleasure." Gabriel bowed his head slightly, smirking smugly.

***

Castiel was almost finished. Having literally no other things to focus on, he was spending most of his time working and the real, tangible effects were there, right before his eyes. He only had to check his calculations one more time and prepare the final, perfectly adjusted portion of his explosive material to insert in the ignition device and this was it, his very own bomb, the freedom of newborns.

Castiel exhaled heavily and leaned his forehead on the cold, wooden counter. He shouldn't do things like that since generally all of the dangerous chemicals had years to percolate into it but he didn't care. He was just really tired of this shit they called life. The loneliness wasn't really doing him good, especially as it was a result of Dean ignoring him. This whole place was making him sick and he wished he could return home to his overprotective parents and annoyingly happy friends. He sighed once again and closed his eyes, breathing in the scent of acid-soaked wood and varnish.

In the exact same position few minutes later he was found by Gabriel. Gabriel who was in surprisingly good mood.  
"Hi, lil' bro." he chirped.  
"Hnnghh." Castiel didn't even bother looking at him.  
"I'm here cause Dean told me to deliver a message." Gabriel continued unmoved.  
Castiel trembled minutely at the mention of Dean's name. Gabriel almost saw him perk up his ears.  
"Dean wants you to write a report for his brother and then I have to deliver it to Sam." he was still waiting for a more obvious reaction.  
"Okay." Castiel huffed with a slight hint of disappointment in his voice. "Is that all he wants from me?"  
"Well, officially yes." Gabriel licked his lips, wondering whether he really should continue with his perfectly evil idea that had come to his mind when he was on his way to the lab. "Are you close to finishing your bomb?" he asked.  
"Yeah, I'm almost there." Castiel muttered. "Why?"  
"Dean..." Gabriel hesitated. "Dean wants you to come to him as soon as you are finished."

 _He's gonna slaughter me..._ Gabriel thought, cringing at the thought of his own insolence. _Or kiss me. That wouldn't be bad._ his grimace quickly turned into a smirk.

"What?" Castiel finally raised his head, grimacing with his eyes wide open.  
"You heard me, Cassie." Gabriel smiled perfectly innocently.

***

This wasn't exactly as easy or pleasant as Gabriel imagined it to be. Being surrounded by leary people by the southern gate wasn't a casual occurence and Gabriel was pretty nervous, which he was far from finding enjoyable. Learning that there were some major secrets Dean was hiding from the rebels was another level of unease but being led towards the unknown by a lady with a creepily smug smirk was beating everything in that moment. He hoped there would some tomorrow he could laugh at his reactions on.

Gabriel's heart was beating fast as he entered the big building of the southern factory but for the first time it really skipped a beat when he walked into a small office and found himself face to face with a man that fit Dean's description more perfectly than he could imagine, from the enormous height up to a pair of striking sweet puppy eyes in which Gabriel was immediately lost.

He was out of words and out of his breath and then it hit him so hard that he tottered back, eventually leaning back on the doorframe behind him. With wide open eyes and mouth agape he observed the man before him, forgetting about his mission or how to think in general.

He was sure as hell this was it.

Gabriel felt his legs going all useless and weak so he forced himself to take a step and fall on a chair before this man's desk, his eyes never leaving the miracle before him. He barely registered calm, deep voice saying "Ruby, out." and a sound of the door slamming shut. He was holding an envelope with Castiel's report close to his chest and breathing heavily.

"Sam?" his voice was shaky but the man shivered at the sound of it anyway.  
"Yes." he responded after a while; it was almost a whisper. "And you are?"  
"Gabriel." he didn't realise he was basically crumpling the corners of the envelope.  
"Nice to meet you." Sam smiled and reached out to shake Gabriel's hand.

In the moment they touched it was sealed. Gabriel had never felt anything as delightful as this electric shiver roaming through his body at the delicate sensation of Sam's skin meeting his.  
"It's really you." he whispered in disbelief.  
"Yes." Sam was not letting go of Gabriel's hand. "Yes, it's me." a sheepish smile appeared on his face. "It's us."


	12. Chapter 12

Everything had changed in this one short moment when Gabriel had waltzed into Sam's life. Sam didn't doubt that it was the most amazing thing to ever happen in his life and yet it was putting him, putting them, in the most dangerous position. Sam had no doubt that Lucifer wouldn't be too happy to learn that Sam had found his soulmate. Not that Sam considered his brother a madman and a killer but well... Lucifer was sometimes pretty close to fit that description.

Especially when it came to the topic of soulmates.

From the very first second Sam saw Gabriel he only wished to snog him into the next day but he knew too well that the stakes were high. He needed all his willpower to unglue his eyes from the man and ask him to return to his normal life as if nothing had happened.  
"What?" Gabriel asked with heartbreaking disbelief.  
"You need to go now, Gabriel." saying these words physically hurt. "If anyone suspects what we truly are, we are dead. Please, I'll find a way, I promise."  
"I don't understand..." Gabriel was confused by the plea so obvious in Sam's eyes.  
"Just trust me on this, Gabe." Sam couldn't stop himself from squatting by Gabriel's side and grabbing his forearms.

He felt a pang of electricity as soon as he touched Gabriel, urging him to get closer, as close as he could.  
"I promise you, we'll be together soon." his eyes were big, full of honesty and Gabriel couldn't say no.  
"Okay." Gabe whispered and then, almost involuntarily cupped Sam's face with one hand. "Just kiss me first. One kiss."  
And this time it was Sam who was unable to say no.

It was exactly like they paint it in all cheesy romance novels, singing choirs of angels, twinkling stars above them, and a sweet taste of belonging. It lasted for eternity and it lasted too short, making them only crave more.

Castiel's report fell on the floor, fatigued and crumpled, when Gabriel grabbed Sam's head, buring his fingers in the long hair and pulling him closer, devouring him with an animalistic passion. Sam moaned against his lips, embracing Gabriel and lifting him up almost effortlessly. Gabriel crossed his legs behind Sam's back, eagerly holding onto him, their bodies pressed together, Sam's hand finding its rightful place on Gabriel's butt.  
"Gabe, Gabe..." Sam whispered, pulling back a little. "We can't. We really can't."  
"We're rebels, we're born to do what we're not supposed to." Gabriel traced the firm line of Sam's jawbone with wet kisses and wriggled a little to show him how much exactly he was into rioting in that moment.  
"Fuck." muttered Sam, his will bending underneath the logic of that statement and... non-verbal arguments.  
Gabriel nuzzled into his neck, purring against his skin.  
 _Oh fuck._  thought Sam, making Gabriel raise his head to crush their lips together again. "I'm screwed." he muttered.  
"You'll be." Gabriel corrected him, grinning mischievously.

***

The bomb was finished. It was a fact that dimmed even the revelation that Gabriel had found his soulmate in no one else but Sam Winchester himself. Castiel nearly flipped out, having heard Gabriel's story during their breakfast but it still was nothing compared to the problem that he had to face now that there was literally nothing left for him to do.

He had to tell Dean, there was no other option.

Castiel eyed his lab with growing anxiety. Suddenly it felt like the safest place one Earth and he really didn't want to leave. Especially when his next destination had to be Dean's office. This just couldn't end well.

***

To create an image vivid enough to paint Sam's state one could only use an expression... not always appreciated in certain social circles, namely: stressed as fuck. Sam Winchester was crawling out of his skin but he had to do what had to be done. Memories of his short sweet moment with Gabriel were what was helping him keep his shit together under such a pressure but it still wasn't enough to calm his quickly beating heart.

Sam needed to talk to Dean.

Running around like a scalded cat with Lucifer on board was not an option so he went out pretty early in the morning. Fortunately Dean in his workaholism was already in his office so Sam had no problems to find him. He took one sharp breath before entering the room and prepared himself for the worst.

"Sammy?" Dean frowned, raising his head from above a stack of papers.  
Sam noticed dark shadows below Dean's eyes and an unusual lack of liveliness in Dean's whole form but he quickly pushed all distracting thoughts aside. "I need to talk to you, Dean." he uttered silently.  
"Okay..." Dean made big eyes but let go of his pen and stood up to face Sam.

"Long story short, I've found my soulmate." Sam wasn't beating around the bush.  
Dean became visibly paler, whole blood draining from his face in a split second. "Are you sure?" he asked, his throat tightened. "Like one thousand percent sure?"  
"Dude, do I look like someone who's not deadly serious?" Sam felt a pang of aggravation. "Of course I'm sure, I've seen that damned timer and..." he gasped and froze.  
Dean eyed him carefully and then looked down at his hands.  
"I would know even if I hadn't." Sam added to excuse himself.  
Dean nodded absently, toying with the hem of his shirt.

After a while he sighed and looked back at Sam. "It's okay, Sammy." he muttered. "I'm happy for you." his smile was crooked, barely hiding the deep sadness creeping right beneath.  
"Luci's not gonna take it that well." Sam gulped.  
"'S not your fault, I'll protect you." Dean placed his hand on Sam's shoulder and looked him right in the eye.  
"Thank you, Dean." Sam smiled weakly. "That won't be necessary though."  
"What do you mean?" Dean furrowed his brow.  
"We're running away." Sam bit his lip, looking into his brother's worried eyes. "It's the only way. He wouldn't stand the sight of... us."

Dean searched Sam's face for any signs of hesitation but found none. "Thank you for telling me." he finally uttered.  
"That's not all yet." Sam inhaled deeply. "Lucifer has some plans, plans I don't even know much about. He wants to do something really big while the authorities will be concerned with the explosion of the factory. I have no idea what he is planning to do but considering the small army he had gathered..." Sam shook his head a little. "It's a chance for us too. He won't notice my disappearance in his frenzy and general chaos."  
"I see..." Dean grimaced. "Thank you once again for coming." he hesitated but then eventually pulled Sam into a bear-like hug.

Sam huffed embracing his brother tightly. "Thanks for understanding, Dean." his voice was full of gratitude and affection.  
"No problem." Dean smiled as they both backed away a little. "But there is one more important thing you haven't told me yet..."  
"What thing?" Sam frowned.  
"The name of your soulmate." Dean's smirk was finally sincerely smug. "Wonder who would love themselves a piece of a gigantic dork like you."  
Sam rolled his eyes. "Jerk." he snorted. "It's Gabriel Novak, for your information."  
"Oh." Dean's mouth formed a perfect 'o'.  
"Is there something wrong with it?" Sam narrowed his eyes.  
"No, no. I'm just surprised, that's all." Dean regained his composure. "I know the guy, like him actually. I'm really happy for you." he smiled albeit weakly.

***

Castiel had his heart in his mouth when he finally approached the door to Dean's office. He just felt unable to do this. He stopped, took few deep breaths and then... decided to walk away but before he took a single step back, the door opened.

Dean looked like a shadow of himself.

Castiel got immediately trapped by his eyes, unable to move or say anything and Dean wasn't letting him go, staring at him with an odd mix of hurt, joy and disbelief Castiel could sense as if they shared feelings in that moment.

After a while the silence between them was buzzing with emotions so intensively that it started choking them both.  
"Dean..." Castiel whispered, unable to take it any longer. "I'm so sorry." his voice broke on the last syllable. "I didn't know, I swear. I didn't want any of this to happen."

And he really didn't mean all those things he had done or said that made them drift apart. He never really wanted to stay away, he needed Dean to function and their separation only made him incapable of denying it any longer.  
Dean kept staring at him in silence and Castiel felt his heart sink.

 _Oh God, it's too late to fix things..._  he thought with a heart-breaking realisation. 

"I've finished my bomb." he added awkwardly.  
At that, Dean shook his head a little as if waking up from a trance. "Awesome..." he muttered and then took a step back, inviting Castiel into his office.

Castiel glanced at him apologetically and came inside, his heart pounding heavily in his chest.  
"Look, Dean..." he bit his lip nervously, lowering his gaze. "I'm terribly sorrry. I should have trusted you. I know you have only good intentions." he looked back up, unsure what to make out of Dean's unreadable expression. "Can you accept my apology? I know I fucked up pretty badly but I... I just can't go on like that. I can't go one knowing that you hate me and I can't go on without... seeing you."

There. He said it. Dean's eyes went wide. There was no taking it back.

Only a second had passed before Dean's expression softened, a shy smile slowly growing wider, pure happiness illuminationg his bright eyes. Castiel forgot how to breathe, watching Dean's transformation.  
"I hated this so much..." Dean muttered, shaking his head a little.  
Castiel allowed himself to smile sheepishly and it broke whatever was still stoping them from crossing what was left of distance between them and falling into a tight hug.  
"Oh, come here, man." Dean sighed with content, placing his chin on Castiel's shoulder.

Being so close to Dean for the first time, Castiel felt a little dizzy but it was undeniably one of the best feelings in the world. It felt so right that he couldn't believe he actually had been trying to deny himself this, all the joy it could bring him. Dean smelled of paper, coffee, and leather and Castiel closed his eyes, inhaling this mix of scents so new to him and yet oddly familiar.  
"I was so stupid." he mumbled.  
It was so obvious that this was where he belonged, this was where his happiness lied. In Dean's arms.

Dean chuckled silently, his laughter rumbling in his chest pressed so firmly against Castiel's.  
"Being as polite as I am, I won't disagree." he purred, his hands stroking Castiel's back in what seemed to be a purely involutary gesture.  
"So you're still and asshole..." Castiel snorted jokingly and inhaled sharply, glad he could feel exactly how warm Dean's palms were.  
"Maybe a bit." Dean shrugged minutely. "Comes in a package with all the awesomeness."  
Castiel chuckled and tightened his embrace for a moment before pulling away with a disappointed huff.  
"I'm glad we're good now." he said, smiling.  
"Yeah, it's... refreshing." Dean looked him in the eyes, his joy so obviously overfilling him from within that Castiel barely stopped himself from pulling him close again, this time to kiss him into oblivion and seal their fate for good.

But yet the time wasn't right.

"We really need to discuss some less pleasant issues, Dean." he said with unhidden dissatisfaction.  
"So you're really finished...?" Dean scratched his head and took a step back to lean against his desk.  
"Yes but..." Castiel smirked smugly. "Lucifer doesn't know about it yet. In fact, you're the first one to hear about this."  
"I appreciate that." Dean bowed his head slightly and then froze, his face dropping. "Lucifer has some suspicious plans." he whispered.  
"What do you mean?" Castiel could swear his heart stopped beating for a moment.  
"You remember those disappearing people?" Dean's eyes were wide open.  
"Yes, what's with them?" Castiel already knew he wouldn't like the answer.  
"They are his army." Dean became visibly paler. "He plans on doing something while everyone will be concerned with the explosion of the factory. Sam told me that right this morning." he frowned. "By the way,.. you do know...?"  
"Yes, yes, I do." Castiel rolled his eyes. "Maybe even a bit more than I wished to. Good for them." he smiled a tiny smile before his expression became serious again. "You sure it's Lucifer?"  
"Of course, dude." Dean frowned. "Who else could this be?"  
"Michael." Castiel whispered.  
"Who?" Dean blinked few times.  
"Oh man..." Castiel's eyes were full of horror. "This is more complicated than I thought."

He made a brief summary of what he had learned from Benny and Hannah, his terror growing along with Dean's confusion. The fact that even Winchester didn't know about any Michael taking part in all of this was more than a bit unnerving.

"This... kinda changes everything." Dean summed up. "But it also makes sense."  
"Sense?" it was Castiel's turn to frown.  
"Lucifer has never really told us where is the money coming from. It's rather logical to assume that someone is pumping a lot of cash in all of this and from what you're saying this Michael may be our guy." Dean rubbed his face. "Let me tell you, Cas. I don't like it, I don't like it at all. I need to talk to Lucifer."  
"What?!" Castiel raised his brows in shock. "You can't! He'll find out who spilled the beans and who knows what could happen to Benny, Hannah and... me. It's possibly the worst thing you could do."  
"Then what do you think I should do instead? Enlighten me." there was a hint of annoyance in Dean's voice.  
"You tell him that the bomb is ready." Castiel sounded sure of himself.  
"What?!" Dean snorted in disbelief. "Come on, man, that's even more idiotic."  
"No." Castiel sighed. "Look, Dean, you tell him it's ready. Then we plan a visit to the factory  **up to a second**  and we go there together but" he made a pause to stress the importance of his words. "we don't blow it up. We tell him we did exactly as planned and assuming he trusts us, if he really has such important plans, he won't wait for any other confirmation before proceeding with them. Simple as that, he goes right into a trap."  
"That..." Dean rose his finger in concentration. "That may actually work out."  
"See?" Castiel grinned. "Never underestimate a Novak."  
"That one I've already heard." Dean chuckled, relaxing a little, relieved that they've found a promising solution and that finally they were on friendly terms.  
"Gabe always steals my best lines." Castiel snorted.

Dean glanced at him with amusement and then just couldn't tear his gaze away. He grunted. "So..." he took a deep breath. "Since your work is done and it's a great success... Fancy a celebratory coffee?"  
Castiel tilted his head a little and smiled.


	13. Chapter 13

The day has come with a dusk chilly and bright. Such a lovely start for a day on which the factory was to be blown up.   
The previous week had been possibly one of the busiest in Castiel's life. He was impressed by the way Dean had been able to arrange everything exactly as they wanted and have every single detail accepted by Lucifer himself. Learning about every tiny triumph in negotiations, he was barely able to stop himself from bursting out with a manic laughter. Things were going almost too perfect, also for them, and for Sam and Gabe.

At first Castiel had been distrustful towards Sam as he was Lucifer's twin after all but Dean trusted him completely and so did Gabe, so Castiel eventually learned to look past all the prejudices. Gabe was so grossily in love that Castiel wanted to puke rainbows every time he saw him making gogly eyes at Sam but also he couldn't force himself to engage in any malice since his brother's happiness was positively contagious.

And he finally had his own reasons to be happy too.

Since the day he had apologised to Dean, life was much more bearable. They've fallen into a comfortable zone of friendship and magically the world became a better place. Castiel couldn't stop smiling to Dean and Dean was always smiling back at him, his eyes twinkling with joy. The way their hatered disappeared was complete and miraculous. Everything looked as if they had always been best friends and it was unbelievable how much comfort could Castiel find in the silence when it was shared with Dean.

He had been in love with him before, he had had this painful and inexplicable crush, still fighting and trying to deceive himself but as he finally had allowed Dean to get closer, he slipped into his heart for good and Castiel was no longer in love nor did he have a crush. Castiel loved Dean with his whole heart and soul and it was the best feeling in the world. He only sometimes wondered whether Dean could be feeling the same for him and somehow always in these moments Dean was turning his gaze to Cas as if he could hear his thoughts. It was giving Castiel chills.

Despite all the lenghty staredowns they were never talking about their feelings directly. Partly due to their complicated situation they needed to get out of first and partly because of this ridiculous fear most people with mutual crushes experience before they eventually get together. At times Castiel was feeling more courageous but he kept telling himself that they didn't really need any further personal issues in addition to their current mission so he kept stopping himself, even though he didn't want anything more than to kiss Dean and bury himself in his arms.  
 _It has to wait, the right time will come._ he was telling himself and smiling shyly at Dean.

Sam and Gabriel had no such restraints. Whenever they were in one room, they were orbiting towards one another as if unable not to touch given a chance. Castiel could only hope that at least they would have enough brains left not to snuggle in front of Lucifer as Dean was pretty insistent that him knowing about them could ruin their plans. It was suspicious enough that he had officially chosen Sam and Gabe to accompany them on their mission to the factory. The reasoning was that Sam was Lucifer's man, Gabriel proved himself as a smart messenger with sharp wit and Castiel needed some moral support having such a game-changing task. Dean named himself his personal bodyguard and Castiel didn't dare ask whether Dean actually could fight or knew how to use a gun.

When the day has come, he got his answer anyway.

Castiel was the first one to arrive at their meeting point. It was 5 a.m. and he was possibly the furthest from being ready he could imagine. He yawned and grimaced hearing an unpleasant crack in his joint. Then he heard steps and his eyes fell on Dean. His mouth remained wide open.

In his combat gear, leather jacked, high boots, and with holster at his belt Dean Winchester looked like someone about to really fuck somebody up. He even had his hair freshly cut to accompany his determined expression and Castiel was glad that he at least bothered to shave.

Dean's serious facade cracked a little as he smirked, seeing Castiel's obvious awe. "Hey, Cas." he said.  
"Mornin'." Castiel blushed a little. He fidgeted under Dean's gaze and nervously ruffled his hair. "The bomb is here." he pointed at a case by his feet. "Remind me to compliment Sam. Pretty smart a package, I must admit."  
"Sam only does smart." there was pride in Dean's voice.

It made Castiel wonder how it was even possible for twins to grow up so different. He couldn't imagine Dean being proud of Lucifer.

"Speaking of Sam, where are they?" Castiel took a look around.  
They were waiting by the warehouse wall, perfect silence interrupted only by occasional chirping of birds. Dean sighed.  
"They should have already been here." he shrugged. "We have to wait for them anyway."  
"True." Castiel walked into the shadow of the building and leaned against the wall.

Dean nonchalantly followed his cue and stopped by his side. They glanced at each other in the same moment and their gazes immediately were locked. Castiel gulped, being so close to Dean, feeling Dean's breath on his lips. He would have to lean only a tiny bit to close the gap between them. He parted his lips involuntarily and his pulse quickened as a strange gravity kept pushing him towards Dean. He knew he was lost, Dean's irises just a thin green ring around his blown out pupils, so tempting and expectant from up close. Castiel's eyes fell shut and...

A loud slam of the door made him and Dean both jump away from each other.  
"Missed us, lovebirds?" Gabriel was even cockier and louder than usual, trying to mask his nervousness.  
Castiel was blushing furiously and he couldn't help but notice that Gabriel's words were pretty ironic due to the messy state of his hair and clothing. Sam's weren't any less disheveled but he had at least enough modesty to look slightly embarassed and apologetic.

"Dude, you can't just fuck with plan like that!" Dean was even redder than Castiel, his mood obviously spoiled.  
"Sorry." Gabriel lied so cheekily it was almost hilarious. "But fucking is so tempting, especially..."  
"Gabe!" Sam hissed, his face burning.  
"Fine, fine, I'll shut up now." Gabriel made a gesture of locking his mouth up with a key and throwing it away.  
"Can we go now?" Dean raised his brows, regaining his composure.  
"Sure." Gabriel grinned innocently.  
"What are we going to drive?" suddenly curiosity got the better of Cas.  
"Not what but who." Dean smiled. "Baby." pure bliss appeared on his face.  
"Fucking motophilia." Sam rolled his eyes, chuckling silently.

***

A gun shot in the darkness, a distant scream, the same dreadful laughter she heard a million times.

Blood...

Its heavy, lingering smell, metallic taste on her tongue, tears of shock disturbing the calm surface of the growing pool of red.

Impossible...

The feeling that the whole air had been pushed out of her lungs, an awful sound of a soul leaving its body ringing in her ears. The sight of zeros multiplying in her eyes.

This was not what was supposed to happen.

Hannah woke up screaming. This time there were no warm hands to hold her shaking body and comfort her terrified heart. She glanced at her palms, almost expecting to see the blood on them, awful stains that marked her past and future, tainting everything with bitter regret. She was breathing heavily, cold and sticky sweat rolling in the last drops down along her spine. On one hand she was glad that she hadn't waken anyone up, on the other she was feeling only more lost and lonely in a room full of sleeping strangers. The sun had just set and the world looked so calm and fresh, inviting her to find the joy in the new day. The irony was painful.

Hannah glanced at Castiel's bed and felt even worse, seeing it neatly made and clearly no longer inhabited. He had only said they were going on a mission but she knew it meant he wouldn't return. They hadn't been on the best terms since the day of the Fizzles catastrophy but she didn't have any better friends amongst the rebels. In the moments like this she regretted being so antisocial. Especially when her trauma was coming back so unexpectedly. She had been so fucking dumb, getting involved in Castiel's intrigues. All that was there for her to find was anxiety she had to deal with alone.

Of course there was also Benny. There **always** was Benny. Whenever he was in the equation all the bad things were magically happening to her. He had been there when Hannah's life firstly went to shit. She could still remember his gentle hands washing the blood off her trembling ones. He really cared, she could tell, but he was always somehow the reason he had to care in the first place.

Hannah couldn't go to him, he was even deeper in this shit than her. No, she had to run away, far from him and far from everything that started catching up on her. She knew too much yet again and there was nothing in it for her this time, especially if Castiel were to fail whatever mission he had. One thing was having a satisfaction that she was doing something to prevent awful things from happenning to people like her, the other was messing with powerful forces behind it all and waking up the demons from her past. This time the price was too high. Hannah started packing her things.

***

Dean glanced in all the mirrors and being sure that no one was following them, parked his car on the pavement. They were in what was left of the once lively center of Detroit and Sam and Gabriel seemed to be buzzing with enough excitement for the whole city.  
"Its safe for you to leave now." Dean said, smiling at them. "Good luck. We'll call you when things are dealt with."  
"Thanks for everything, Dean." Gabriel grinned widely. "Come on, Samsquatch, let's get our asses out of the military zone." he opened his door and jumped outside.  
Sam lingered for a while and then with some sort of determination reached out and patted Dean's shoulder. "Thank you." he said softly.  
Dean caught his eye in the mirror and they held their gazes for few silent seconds before Sam turned his head away and slipped out of the car.

Gabriel knocked on Castiel's window and waved him goodbye with a huge grin still plastered to his face. Then Sam approached him and slid his arms around his waist to pull him close. The engine of the old Chevy Impala roared and Dean took off leaving them alone in the silent city.

"We made it!" Gabriel produced a tiny jig of triumph in Sam's embrace.  
"We did." Sam smirked and placed his chin on Gabriel's head.  
"Where's your enthusiasm, love?" Gabriel frowned, trying to somehow tilt his head enough to look at Sam.  
"Right here." in a blink they were facing each other and Gabriel found himself being kissed with a passion slightly inappropriate for a public space.

He felt his cheeks heat up and head spin as Sam moaned loudly pulling him closer, gripping his shirt and hair with a possessive inexorability. He loved that, he loved seeing Sam let his feelings show so boldly. No one but him could tell just how much of raw emotion exactly there was always boiling right beneath Sam's cool demeanor. Gabriel was thrilled to discover it and determined to make Sam stop hiding it, stop acting anything like his cold twin. There was just too much beauty in Sam being Sam.

Gabriel yelped silently as his mouth was brutally freed from the sweet onslaught, he just knew that this sound could make Sam instantly want more.  
"Gabe..." Sam's voice was almost a growl. "We need to get as far as we can before someone realises we're no longer on our mission." he seemed really dissatisfied with that thought.  
"I know." Gabriel sighed. "I'd rather get a room first" he winked. "but I get that it's not time for this. What do we do now?"  
"Catch a plane and get the hell out of here." Sam shrugged.  
"Seems logical." Gabriel looked up into Sam's eyes and then placed his hand on Sam's chest, right where his heart was beating. "I can't wait to start a new life with you." he smiled softly. "I love you so much." he added shyly.  
At that, affection illuminated Sam's eyes. "I love you too." he said and pressed a tender kiss on Gabriel's forehead.

They kept their gazes locked for a while before Gabriel lowered his head and grunted. "Gotta catch a cab or something."  
"Sure." Sam could feel the warm emotions washing over him, giving him strenght and courage to move mountains. "Do the honors."  
Gabriel glanced at him sheepishly and chuckled, shaking his head minutely. Then he approached the curb and eyed the street. As if on a calling a taxi appeared in sight. He waved his hand and the cab pulled over. Gabriel grinned and opened the door.  
"Mornin'." he muttered, taking a sit inside, followed closely by Sam.

All doors clicked shut.

"Mornin'." said a deep voice and one more click resounded in the small cabin. "I'm Uriel." the taxi driver turned to them. "This is Zach." he pointed at a man on the front sit. "We're gonna take you for a ride today."  
Gabriel found himself looking straight into a barrel of a gun.  _Fuck._ he thought.  
It expressed more than a thousand words.


	14. Chapter 14

Hannah really missed times when her hands weren't shaking even under a fair amount of stress, times when she could walk surely, almost arrogantly in and out of every place like she owned it. She never came to love the new, fragile herself; she despised her own weakness but she couldn't do anything about it. She was broken and she didn't have the power to fix herself. The fake insolence that she had to replace her old talents with wasn't nearly good enough and she hated that she had to hope no one would stop her but it was all she had and she needed it to escape.

That day seemed to be her day though. It was strangely fortunate that nobody bothered to check who she was and why she was getting out of the factory. One guard eyed her without any real interest but no questions had been asked and few steps further she was out and... free. Maybe this time for real.

Hannah exhaled heavily, closing her eyes, and continued walking as if she wasn't up to anything unusual or illegal. Officially no one was forced to stay, after all. Hopefully no one noticed her having anything in common with Castiel or Benny and they would just once let her be. She risked smiling to herself weakly with shy excitement; she couldn't allow herself to be more joyful just yet. Last time she had thought she could escape her past led her to this exact moment of stress and fear. She learned not to praise the day before the sunset.

Streets around the factory were abandoned which was exactly what made the location an ideal fit for the rebels but much less convenient when it came to escapes of any kind. She congratulated herself on her circumspection that made her always keep a pair of good walking shoes as there seemed to be quite a long trek awaiting her.  
This part of Detroit looked almost post-apocalyptic and the everpresent silence was becoming heavy in a creepy way that made Hannah walk faster involutarily. She almost kissed the ground as she reached first inhabited houses half an hour later, exhausted by the constant stress. Her mood was increasing with every step bringing her closer to the city center, careless joy slowly creeping into her heart and putting a grin onto her face. The lively twinkle returned to her eyes and she felt an urge to sing and dance to greet a fresh start, new chance she was given. She could literally do anything, climb mountains, cross the sea...

Hannah was barely stopping herself from running, her whole body itching to do something madly rewarding, when she heard a voice calling her.  
"Hey, nice lady." someone croaked. "You happen to have any change?"  
She glanced at that person who turned out to be a man in a worn-off suit who must have been someone of bigger import once. The dirt on his face couldn't hide cunning intelligence clear in his eyes.  
"I've lost my job." he added in case she hadn't presumed it.  
"Okay, give me a second." she smiled and took her backpack off.  
She put it down onto the ground, squatted, unzipped it, took a look inside and... the darkness took her away.

***

Benny wished he could be anywhere else. Everything could be better than being here and him in that moment. How could he let that happen? How could he choose to stay blind?

It was too late now. The blinkers had fallen off of his eyes and he could finally see the real deal behind everything he believed to be the rightful cause. He could see Michael's army, all those innocent people he had chosen brainwashed and trained to serve him, sure they had every right to do whatever they were told to in their fight for freedom. Michael was like a proud king amongst his faithful knights and there was no sight more terrifying than this one. Benny was sweating and trying to keep a straight face as he if he still was a good soldier too but this was definitely not what he had signed up for.

Michael spoke. "My dearest friends!" he begun sweetly, his voice loving and caring. "You probably wonder who I am and why I am here. It's a perfectly understandable reaction so let me begin with introducing myself. I'm Michael Milton, a mere businessman from Michigan and I'm just a person who has his tiny part in founding the fight we're all fighting here." his voice was charming, enchanting. "I've never officialy spoke to you, choosing to stay in the shadows in my modesty, while great people like Dean Winchester were the voice of revolution." he smiled with pride. "However, I felt responsible for our mission and decided to make myself known as the time to act has come. Yes, my friends, it really has!" he seemed to be in awe with a rustle of whispers that raised amongst the crowd. "And I'm here to show you the whole truth about the evil we finally have the power and will to fight."

"The roots of it go deeper that we can observe every day as regular citizens." he exhaled sharply as if saddened by his own words. "It's sad but true that the whole system is now corrupted. Think of it, not only we are all given timers at birth but then we are being slowly brainwashed into believing in the great power of love. We are taught about it in schools, TV sells us carefully prepared information every day, no one can escape it, no one is safe. That's why destroying the factory, which I believe is happening right about now, won't solve our problem completely. Since everyone is taught to recognise our 'soulmate' we are able to trigger subconscious reactions that can trick us into thinking this one person is who we are looking for, meaning that if we don't go deeper, if we destroy watches but don't stop this demagoguery from spreading, the world won't be truly free." Michael grimaced showing his anger and disapproval. "This is where you come in, my friends. You are fighters, you are strong and determined and you have the fire in you needed to put a halt to it." he made a pregnant pause. "Are you ready to fight the system? Are you in?"  
"Yes!" the crowd responded eagerly.

Benny could feel their anger, the rightful flame of rebellion now at Michael's service. So dangerous and yet so naive. He felt a shiver going down his spine. He knew all those people and Michael was going to send them on certain death for the sake of taking the control over the whole country for himself. Yet each and every rebel believed his intentions were crystal clear. Benny couldn't forgive himself for being such an ass.

"There is only one more lesson I would like you to remember today." Michael rose his voice. "There's no going back now. We need to stand tall and stand united no matter what happens. You have been chosen carefully and I believe you are all worthy of being amongst us today but I want you to know that no weakness will be tolerated." Michael's voice became cold and full of scorn. "One hesitant man can get the rest killed and we can't allow that to happen. This being said, we need to make sure all our people are trustworthy and ready to follow orders. Your first task will be to find those amongst the regular rebels, who came here to have fun but won't risk anything, fleeing as soon as they are needed for something more dangerous than brushing their teeth." Michael made a small gesture and suddenly someone came through the door on his right and tossed another person at Michael's feet. "Just like this example of fearful scum." he poked the lying person with his foot, disgust on his face. "We will test everyone and those who are not suitable, not worthy to fight amongst us, will be held prisoner to serve as an example for those who would like to take a step back in their egoistic will to survive." he kicked harder and the person rolled over with a yelp of pain. "It's no longer a game, it never really was. It's a regular war and we are here to win it." Michael sounded like a leader and he truly became one when people started applauding.

Benny went pale, clapping along and holding his head high. Despite his effort not to betray his distrust, he just had to glance at the beaten up person still lying in front of Michael.  
His heart stopped.  
Her face was swollen, violet with bruises, blood dripping from her lip but he recognised her immediately. He wouldn't mistake her for anyone else, even if he wanted. It was Hannah and this time he couldn't help her.

***

They made it to the factory. Castiel would rather avoid coming there but Dean wanted to be sure Lucifer would be fooled so they needed to play this game a little longer. Dean dialed Lucifer's number once they've found the room that Castiel chose to install his bomb in and Castiel prepared it for the launch. It was surprisingly easy to get past all the guards, provided there weren't many of them as the day was free for most working people. They were really glad they could choose a day when so little people could get hurt in the process.

"Hello, brother." Dean said joyfully to the phone. "Everything is ready for the big bang. We can launch everything as soon as this call ends and let me tell you man, I can't wait to set this place on fire." he chuckled with a surprising malice. "We had no problems, all went as planned." Castiel watched Dean's face drop at Lucifer's response. "Show you? Oh, of course." he turned the phone camera on and made sure it registered the bomb. "See?"  
Castiel felt a drop of cold sweat roll down his spine. Dean was a genius, foreseeing Lucifer's demand to check everything on his own.  
"I need to help the chemist with the launch." Dean said quickly. "Gotta be ready in a minute. See you after the action."

He sighed with relief after he hung up. Castiel glanced at him with unhidden admiration.  
"That was brilliant." he said genuinely.  
"I know." Dean smiled weakly. "Guess, I'm kinda disappointed that after everything we've been through to get here, we're not going to make this step towards freedom after all."  
"I..." Castiel hesitated. "I'm no longer so sure we should, even if we could."  
"What?" Dean frowned.  
"I don't think this would solve any problems, honestly." Castiel was thoughtful. "It could even make some things harder."  
"Harder to what?" the annoyance started creeping into Dean's voice.  
"To survive." Castiel wasn't looking at him.

For a while Dean just stared at Cas in silence and then he bursted out. "But think of those who are stigmatised! Those who don't have their watches, their soulmates. Just look at Lucifer..."  
"Lucifer?" Castiel made big eyes.  
"Yes, Lucifer. He wasn't given a watch at his birth. Or rather it exploded in the moment it touched his skin." Dean sighed. "Don't you see how different from Sam he is? He had been through so much shit, people always pointing at him for being different, for being a weirdo, abomination without a soulmate, something incomplete..." there was so much pain and compassion in Dean's voice that Castiel's heart ached to hear and see him like that. "He's the reason I believe we should end this. He's lost the right path but it's not his fault, he didn't choose it."

Castiel felt stupid, having his slight irritation as the only reason behind his choice to join the rebellion. "But Dean..." he begun. "There is also so much good to it..." his voice was a whisper.  
"What good?" Dean couldn't believe Castiel was actually defending timers.  
"They guide us, they give hope and they explain so much." Castiel bit his lip, the time has come. "If it wasn't for my watch, maybe I wouldn't understand what was happening to me, what was happening... between us."

Suddenly all anger was gone from Dean's face. "So you knew...?" his voice was barely audible.  
"I did. And I tried to fight it." Castiel's eyes went wide as the real meaning behind Dean's words hit him. "Wait, did **you**...?"  
Dean nodded, his face becoming red. "I took that last look." he was a bit ashamed but also buzzing with excitement.  
"Same here." Castiel smiled softly. "Oh, Dean, I've lost this fight so miserably..."  
"I fought too." Dean closed his eyes and Castiel couldn't believe how beautiful he was with his cheeks rosy and this shy smile bending his lips. "And I lost it, probably even before you did, you tough son of a bitch." he opened his eyes and grinned widely. "How did you do that?"  
"Years of practice in torturing myself." Castiel shrugged and then locked his gaze with Dean's. "I don't want to fight any longer." he took a step towards him. "I officially surrender." another step. "I want to love you."

He was right before Dean, inches from his face, feeling this sweet breath on his lips again. He reached out to cup Dean's cheek, looking at him from beneath his eyelashes. He parted his lips, determined to finally close the gap between them and...

A loud clack of a gun being loaded ripped through their newfound world of comfort.

"Dammit." whispered Dean.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Forever cockblocked ;)


	15. Chapter 15

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yes, it's all written down now :D I hope you'll like the way the story goes.

In perfect sync Castiel and Dean turned around towards the source of the sound.  
"Sammy?" Dean whispered with disbelief.  
Sam was pointing a gun at them, tears rollong down his cheeks but hand stable despite all the emotions so clear on his face. "Lucifer knows." he said with pain. "He knows you wanted to deceive him and he knows... about me and Gabriel." he sighed, shaking his head sadly. "He has him! I couldn't say no!"

Castiel felt his heart sink. Knowing that his brother was held captive was pretty bad itself but seeing the despair in Sam's eyes made it much worse to handle.  
"It's alright, Sammy. I get it, don't worry." Dean said calmly, slowly raising his hands up to show he wasn't holding any weapons.  
"No, you don't really get it!" Sam was starting to panic, his voice becoming shaky. "You can't even begin to understand!"  
"Believe me" Dean gulped and glanced at Castiel. "I do. What does Lucifer want us to do? We'll do it, I promise."  
"Just to blow up this factory as planned." Sam's face was a mask of hope and fear. "Please, do this. Do this for me. I won't be happy ever again if..." he stuttered. "if something happens to Gabe. Please..."  
"You know, it's not how it should have looked like." Dean shook his head symphatetically. "Let's do this, Cas. C'mon."

Castiel glanced at Sam one more time and following Dean's example, squatted by the bomb.  
"We have to do this, Cas, I'm sorry." Dean whispered tensily.  
"I understand, Dean." Castiel allowed a tiny encouraging smile to bend his lips. "It's also about my brother."  
Dean looked at him and placed a reassuring hand on his shoulder. "Don't worry, he's gonna be alright. Lucifer's not interested in killing him, we'll all be fine."  
Castiel looked him in the eyes thankfully.

"Faster!" Sam broke their moment of comfort. "Lucifer's listening to everything that's happening here, he wants to hear an explosion soon."  
Castiel risked taking a quick look at Sam. It was a warning that they shouldn't betray too much with their words. He bowed his head slightly in acknowledgement and then went back to work.

Once everything was set, Castiel exchanged gazes with Dean.  
"I'm going to start the countdown now." he said loudly. "We have three minutes from... now." he pushed a button.  
"Go, go!" Dean hurried them.  
They quickly escaped the factory, not meeting anyone on their way and exactly in the moment they reached a safe enough spot, the building blew up. It looked as if the roof dissolved when a column of fire rose from the center of the factory and then the walls collapsed inwardly, sucked in by a big implosion that followed.

Seizing an opportunity a chaotic moment of noise gave him, Sam quickly approached Dean and whispered few words into his ear. Then he turned to both of them, saying loudly "I'm going back now." he smiled courageously. "Thank you and... good luck."  
Both Castiel and Dean smiled with understanding.

***

Gabriel felt slightly uncomfortable, being a damsel in distress. Mainly because he had a feeling that Lucifer wouldn't hesitate to kill him, if only he found any benefit of doing so. He could at least be sure that Sam was doing all he could to save him but it probably wasn't a piece of cake.

Gabriel observed Lucifer listen to what was happening with Sam. He could only hear a buzz of distant chatter on the line, a moment of silence and... a huge explosion. It was actually shocking that the speaker survived such a blast of sound. A huge grin appeared on Lucifer's face.  
"Now that's great news." he commented. "My brother really does share some genes with me after all." he chuckled and Gabriel decided he really didn't like that sound. "We have to get going now." he turned the speaker off and picked a gun to tuck it under his belt on his back; then he took a pen and a piece of paper. "What should I write?" he looked at his sidekicks with great concentration, obviously not asking them to answer.

Lucifer tapped his temple with the pen few times and then put down few words. "Ah, that's just fine." he smirked with satisfaction. "Sam may already have an idea what I'm up to but that should leave no doubt." he glanced at Gabriel. "I want you both to witness my triumph." he turned to his people again. "Take him with. We're going to the roots of all evil. Just as planned."  
Two thugs grimaced in parodies of smiles. Gabriel didn't particularly like this turn of events.

***

Benny was barely controlling himself. Every cell of him wanted to ignore the risks and jump towards Hannah to save her, to ease her pain. He didn't dare look at Michael, knowing that all the hatered could easily be seen in his eyes and he couldn't let that happen, he couldn't let himself get beaten up too. He had work to do first, he had to stop it.

The only thing that was still giving him hope was that despite the applause most of the people cringed at the sight of Hannah. Maybe they were mostly scared for themselves but also there must have been some disgust and disagreement in them. She wasn't even amongst the ones chosen to fight. She was a mere human and her only fault was getting scared, acting on the fear all of them carried deep inside their hearts as well. Benny knew those people, he had chosen them. Dean's order was to find the strong ones, those who had reasons to yearn vengeance, those who really wanted to do something, change the world. He had found them, he had found more than these people before him but he had chosen only the ones who weren't there just to satisfy some dark whims, to taste blood. He had chosen those who really believed in the cause and that was why he had a reason to hope they still had their hearts in the right places. If only he had an occasion to talk to them alone... Unfortunately Michael must have felt like leading and selling his sick visions all day long.

"Dear friends, we need to stay together." he was clearly enjoying the sound of his own voice. "Only then we will be strong enough to give this country the freedom it deserves. And once we destroy the old system, we will be the ones to rule, to be the only fair leaders this country had ever known." Benny almost expected Michael to lick his lips or rub his hands like a really fat and greedy fly. "That's what I'm offering you in return for your loyalty, a fair share in the power, the power to change the lives of every human in this land." he looked at everyone triumphantly, sure that he had won their hearts.

And then a cough resounded in the silent factory hall.

Michael, Benny and the whole army turned towards the source of the sound. Up on a safety bridge above them was a thin, inconspicuous man with a self-assured smirk on his face and a sock on his hand looking like a cheap puppet.  
 _And what the hell does **he** think he is doing?_ Benny was shocked until a moment has passed and he received an answer to his question.  
"Mister Fizzles" begun Garth in a modyfied pitch. "can sense when you are being a liiiaaaar!'

***

Castiel observed Sam leave with a sort of unease he really didn't like. Dean gestured for him to follow once the tall silhouette disappeared from their sight. He made him squat behind some bush and then looked into his eyes with loads of mixed feelings in his own.  
"No one should find us here." Dean said carefully and then let a pure awe display on his face. "Dude, that was awesome! It tore the building in half, like in all those movies. I didn't believe it was even possible! You totally have to..." he wanted to praise Castiel more but Cas didn't let him finish his rant as he finally got tired of all the waiting and cockblocking and pulled him into a passionate kiss.

At first Dean froze, blood rapidly colouring his face red, but then he eagerly begun responding as Castiel's lips felt better on his than he could have imagined. It was so right to finally be this close, share the shaky breaths between the kisses they both couldn't and didn't want to stop exchanging. Castiel had never felt such a burning desire only when kissing someone and it was making his head spin. He groaned silently, pulling Dean closer, wanting to feel their bodies together, feel Dean's firm form against his own as it was meant to be. The way they fit together was so natural, so beautiful that Castiel wanted to cry and never let go. Dean seemed to be feeling the same way, gripping Castiel's jacket and embracing him so hard he almost couldn't move. Dean's lips were so warm and needy against his, Cas almost couldn't imagine not taking it a step further immediately.

And yet the time and place weren't right.

Castiel pulled back a little before it had gotten out of control and letting out a sigh of satisfaction mixed with disappointment, looked Dean in the eyes. They were so beautiful, full of this need for **Castiel**.  
"Cas..." Dean was begging, even though he couldn't explain what exactly for.  
"Dean..." Castiel smiled softly, letting all his affection show in his eyes. "It's not safe to stay here." he sighed once again and then his smile became impish. "We also deserve a better scenery and a place more comfortable, don't you think?"  
"I do." Dean lowered his gaze, his face flushed. "We gotta get going anyway. We don't have this much time." he begun standing up.  
"Much time?" Castiel frowned, looking up after him.  
"Sam told me what's Lucifer up to." Dean reached down to help Castiel. "We've got a life to save, I'm afraid." he didn't let go of Castiel's hand even after they were both standing side by side and Castiel loved that.  
"Then let's go, shall we?" Castiel smiled encouragingly.

Dean blushed a little but righteous determinaton also appeared on his face and for a second Castiel felt overwhelmed by the love he was feeling towards this man, who turned out to be a beautiful person on the inside, his nobelty accompanying the physical attractivness. Dean lost countenance seeing Castiel so openly showing his feelings but then he smiled sheepishly and pulled Castiel's hand so they could walk towards the car arm in arm, fingers entangled in a visible sign of their bond.


	16. Chapter 16

"And who the hell is Mister Fizzles?" Michael narrowed his eyes in angry confusion. "Someone shoot this clown down!" he ordered but no one moved as if they all were trapped under some kind of spell.  
"Now as I have your attention..." Garth grunted and took the sock off, leaning on the safety rail. "Agent Fitzgerald, FBI." he took out a badge and waved it high in the air.  
"Oh please, a federal agent in the heart of a rebellion?" Michael snorted, rolling his eyes.  
"Rebellion is not one of my concerns." Garth smiled. "As a matter of fact, I've grown to support certain ideas it promotes but..." he made a pause. "I'm not here to discuss politics or love. I'm here to discuss you, Michael Milton. You, your past and your future."  
"That's ridiculous!" Michael chuckled with obvious nervousness. "What could FBI possibly have against me? I'm a humble businessman who chose to share his **legal** money with an old friend that happened to use it to run this place. There's nothing interesting for feds here."  
"Oh, Michael, Michael..." Garth cackled, shaking his head with compassion. "Do you honestly think that we haven't dug deeper? Like for example summer of 2008 deep?"

Michael went pale for a moment and then his face turned red. "That's impossible! There is nothing to know, nothing to find back then!" he slowly started losing his composure, people observing the exchange with growing fascination.  
"Oh, I believe there unfortunately is." Garth sounded smug, so smug that Benny almost didn't recognize him. "You see, that was when everything started, that was when Lucifer Winchester saved your ass and helped you get your vengeance to kickstart your career, or should I say, a criminal record? Because that's what you are now, a boss of mafia with a file so thick it developed its own gravity. Your own, little mafia... You are aiming really high, Michael."  
"This is bullshit!" Michael was beet red, trying to wave off the effect of Garth's words.  
"No, my friend." Garth smiled wider. "And it's even more sad that this is not only about you finally having an army of yours which is able to take over the country for you. This is also your own, dirty, little vengeance."

"How dare you, you whacky son of a bitch?!" Michael stopped holding his anger back. "How dare you slander me?!"  
"You want to get rid of Lucifer, don't you?" Garth was unmoved. "That would add another murder to the lenghty list of your sins." he sighed with disappointment.  
"So what?" Michael dropped the defensive strategy. "What can you do to me now, huh? You are alone, you stupid bastard and you are clearly delirious." he was rambling. "Really, what can you do?"  
"Well..." Garth rubbed his chin and glanced at Benny. "For instance, I can distract you."  
"What?" Michael frowned.

He didn't get any answer to that question as Benny sold him a solid punch that sent him right into a blissfull state of uncosciousness. The crowd gasped.

"Ow." Benny grimaced, trying to shake off the pain in his fist.  
"Wow, you can actually be of some use." Garth sounded amused.  
"Sod off." Benny growled and then his gaze fell on Hannah; he knew he had to act quickly. "Listen up, buddies." he forced himself to look at the crowd. "You all know me and you know how devoted to our cause I really am. This man here?" he pointed at Michael. "He wasn't a leader we should have followed. You heard what agent Fitzgerald said and you heard what Michael was saying. This ain't what we all came here to fight for, his private vendetta." Benny sighed. "We gotta rethink our current position but first there are things we need to take care of." he eyed the people, finally feeling a little bit better. "I need two of you to lock this asshole somewhere until he can be taken out by FBI and I need someone to help me take care of her." he pointed at Hannah, a huge knob forming in his throat.

For a while the hall was completely silent but then two men, Balthazar and Ian, approached Michael to carry him away. Benny exhaled sharply with relief; so they really were his people now.  
"Don't worry." he said and allowed himself to smile. "We'll serve our mission just right." his smile went wider as he felt a wave of relief wash over people.

Benny looked at Garth thankfully and then his thoughts returned to Hannah, who still seemed to be out. He squatted by her side and discovered that she was breathing evenly and the blood wasn't oozing out of her wounds any longer.  
"I can help." he heard someone approach them.  
"Bela." he greeted her gladly.  
"I honestly always thought you should be the one to lead us." she said and then eyed Hannah. "Is there a place here we can let her rest comfortably in?"  
"Yeah, a small room just over there." Benny pointed at an entrance to a small corridor. "And thank you."  
"I believe that's what we all would like to say to you now." she smiled. "Can you carry her there?"  
"Of course." Benny picked Hannah up as if she was weighing nothing and feeling his heart sink, he took her out of the hall, followed by hundreds of hopeful gazes.

***

Sam could feel his heart jumping out of his chest as he finally reached their factory. It felt like the longest drive of his life. He quickly strode across the parking lot, through the entrance that fortunately was open, the familiar corridor and right into Lucifer's office.  
"It's done." he announced, entering the small room.

An empty room.

There was no sign of Lucifer, his sidekicks or Gabriel. Sam felt like shooting himself in the head. Was Lucifer really playing such a cruel game? He took a frantic look around and spotted a slip of paper on the desk, carefully placed right in the middle of it. With a tense wariness he approached it and recognised Lucifer's handwriting.

_You shall be the one to witness my triumph, brother. Find me with my enemy bleeding out at my feet._

The card fell out of Sam's grip. Lucifer had always been a bit of a drama queen but this... Taking Gabe with to make Sam witness him murdering someone? This was more than fucked up. He swore silently and run back to his car.

***

"Where are we heading to?" Castiel found observing the passing buildings pretty a relaxing activity.  
Dean glanced at him. "Did you know that the timers were and invention of one man?" he asked.  
"No, I've never really given their history a thought." Castiel glanced back at him. "And?"  
"There's always only one person on this planet who knows exactly how they work, knows the magic they require to be so precise and provides them with it. It's always a person chosen carefully by the previous keeper of their secret." Dean turned back to look at the road but only a moment passed before his gaze fell on Castiel again. "With the factory destroyed he's the only hope to renew the production and if something happened to him now..." he gulped.  
"The secret would be buried with him." Castiel finished for him. "So Lucifer...?"  
"Yes." Dean nodded. "He wants to gank the guy."

Castiel exhaled sharply. "As far as I'm all against this timers business, this is rather... radical." he shook his head. "I mean, losing such a knowledge? Killing someone? Not worth it. There's got to be another way."  
"I'm glad you think about it that way." Dean was concentrated on the road before them.  
"We have to stop him." Castiel nervously run his fingers through his hair and along the shaven skin.  
"That's what we're gonna do." Dean grimaced. "Man, sometimes I think it's all my fault." he shook his head.  
"Your fault?" Castiel frowned.  
"Yeah, Lucifer, I mean." Dean glanced at him once again. "I should have helped him to be a better person, be there for him more. Kid had a hard time in school, everywhere he went, you know?"  
"I can imagine that." Castiel lowered his gaze. "But it wasn't your responsibility, it was your parents'."  
"Mom's long dead." Dean said bitterly. "I almost can't remember her. And dad... dad's gone nuts, babbling about demons, ghosts and other crazy stuff. Had to be taken to a hospital. We've never really had parents."

Castiel could sense Dean's bitter sadness and he felt for him so much. "I'm sorry." he whispered. "But you did more than one could expect you to. Raising two brothers? Hell of a job for someone young and inexperienced."  
"I've never said a word of complaint." Dean's voice was harsh. "I loved them so much, I still do. But I should have known that Lucifer needed more than I've given to him." a tear rolled down his cheek. "I failed. I disappointed them." his voice broke into a whisper.  
"Pull over, Dean." Castiel ordered with worry.

Dean obeyed and they stopped by the side of the road. Castiel quickly got out of the car and run to pull Dean out too and embrace him tightly.  
"We're gonna fix it." he muttered, rocking Dean in his arms. "Everything's gonna be alright, I promise. We'll be happy, all of us. You, me, Sam, Gabe and even Lucifer, you'll see."  
"I'm so sorry." Dean was crying, his body trembling. "I'm all kinds of screwed up. I even messed up what I had with you. I've been such a prick and it was my fault that it all started so bad. You have every right to hate me, Cas."  
"I've never really hated you, I just couldn't." Castiel smiled softly and pressed a kiss onto the crown of Dean's head. "I wanted to because I thought we shouldn't be together, that we didn't have a chance but I was trying to fool myself. I've always loved you, I do now and I will til the end of my life."  
"Really?" Dean still was shaking but he looked up into Castiel's eyes.  
"Yes." Castiel tilted his head a little. "And we'll have our own happily ever after."

At that Dean finally smiled back at him and leaned into his embrace, finding all the comfort he needed to calm himself down. Castiel sighed quietly and closed his eyes, stroking Dean's back. For the first time he had seen such an emotional side of Dean and it made him realise that there was much more to this amazing man than he would love to know and that there was also a long way ahead of them to fight all the demons of the past. It wasn't scaring him though. He wanted nothing more but to see Dean Winchester free and happy. He eagerly accepted this as his mission.


	17. Chapter 17

A loud slam of shutting door brought Michael back to consciousness. He was locked in one of the abandoned offices and no one had even bothered to tie him up just yet.  
"Idiots." he muttered, rubbing the spot that Benny hit.  
He could feel a growing headache and it wasn't making him any more friendly towards the world in general.

After a moment, Michael took a look around, patting his pockets. There wasn't anything interesting in the room but it was a pleasant surprise to find his spare gun and phone in their rightful and very private place no one ever dared to search. His situation started looking almost bearably well. The next priority was getting out before anyone could come up with a brilliant idea to check up on him. He sneaked towards the window, took a careful look out and blinked few times in disbelief as he found himself right by the parking lot, just above the ground level. The amount of mistakes they had made locking him in there was almost unbelievable.

The window opened with a silent squeek as Michael pushed the frame. He smiled, feeling a fresh touch of wind on his face. Another quick look around told him that there were no guards patrolling the premises and he could dance fucking cha-cha in front of the factory gates without being noticed. This decided it, he sat on the sill and slowly drafted his legs onto the other side. He took a deep breath and carefully slid down onto the ground, managing not to hurt himself.

Brushing his clothes over, Michael turned the phone on and chose a number.  
"Richard?" he asked, when someone finally answered.  
"Dick, please." Dick Roman sounded offended. "What's up, boss?"  
Michael silently thanked his providence that made him send Dick away right after he had brought that girl in. "I had to make a little change in my plans." he ogled the cars standing on the parking lot and chose the least outstanding one. "My army is currently... inavaliable." he huffed and then with a bold blow crushed down one window to open the doors and ignoring the ringing alarm, got into the car. "Where is he heading to?"

Dick obligingly gave him an adress, while Michael gutted out the cables and found the ones he needed to start the engine up. The car roared obediently.  
"Thanks, Richard." he said and ended the call before he heard another _It's Dick._ "Well, it's not ideal." he said to himself. "But we can't get everything we desire, right? One out of two is still not too bad."

***

They hit the road as soon as Dean felt well enough to carry on and Castiel only wished he could hold Dean's hand to ensure him he was there all the time. It wasn't possible though so a simple smile had to do and magically it was just enough. Dean was calm again, determined to stop Lucifer and then change the world in a less bloody way. Castiel could see him accomplishing that. Dean had all the charisma and will to succeed.

They eventually stopped before a charming villa and with a sort of dreadful panic they noticed that both the garden gate and the entrance door had been opened by force. They glanced at each other, exchanging knowing looks. Dean pulled out two guns and handed one to Cas.  
"You know how to use this thing?" he looked into Castiel's eyes.  
"I've visited a shooting range maybe five times. I'll manage." he smiled weakly.  
"I hope it won't come in handy." Dean was clearly worried. "If something, **anything** goes to shit, you gotta run, Cas, you understand? You're a chemist, not a soldier. You gotta save your life, there's no reason to die stupidly."  
"But Dean..." Castiel didn't like the thought of leaving Dean behind in danger.  
"No buts, Cas." Dean placed a hand on his shoulder. "You shouldn't have come with me in the first place. It's too dangerous. So anything's off, you run, get it?"  
"Dean..." Castiel felt like a child but Dean's protectiveness was also making him feel this warmth in his chest.  
"No, Cas. Promise me you'll save yourself first." Dean demanded.  
Castiel searched his eyes for any sign of hesitation but there were none, Dean needed this reassurance. "Okay." he sighed. "I promise."  
"And you keep that." Dean smiled softly and after a short moment of uncertainty pressed a chaste kiss on Castiel's lips. "Let's go."

Castiel smiled weakly in response and followed Dean through the garden up onto the front porch. There they've heard some very unsettling noises. Someone was clearly shouting, a manly voice raising above much more silent sobbing. Dean became visibly tense and raised his gun so Castiel did the same, going right after him. They've crossed a neatly decorated hall and led by the noises, entered what seemed to be a living room.

Firstly, Castiel spotted his brother held by two men. Gabriel saw him too and made big eyes, certainly shocked by his presence. Then Castiel's gaze fell on the scene Gabriel must have been a witness of.

In the middle of the room stood Lucifer. Castiel could see him breathing heavily in rage. At his feet was a man who was bleeding out of his nose and lip but also chuckling like a lunatic. Lucifer grabbed him by his shirt and lifted him up to his eye level as if the guy weighted nothing. Then he glanced at Dean and Castiel and turned back to his victim as if he didn't mind their presence at all.  
"Drop those toys, boys. You won't need them." he simply said and they understood they had to obey and drop their guns. "I'm glad you came to see my triumph. Shame that Sam's not here but you two will have to do." he spoke with a venomous satisfaction. "You see, Chuck here is now the only obstacle on the way to free the world from the timers."  
"Well that's technically true..." Chuck huffed.  
"Don't!" Lucifer tightened his grip, grimacing. "Don't interrupt me." he exhaled sharply, visibly fighting to remain calm. "He's the only obstacle on the way to a better world for everyone and I'll gladly remove him in the name of freedom."  
"This won't solve anything." Chuck was struggling to breathe and Castiel couldn't believe in his determination to speak anyway.  
"Do you even hear yourself now?!" Lucifer shook him a little. "Bitch, please, the lack of a timer was what made my life hell."  
"Yeah." Chuck actually chuckled, making Lucifer's eyes twinkle with fury. "But do you know why you've never gotten to have one?"  
Lucifer froze, his face suddenly resembling a mask of a porcelain figurine. "Why?" he asked silently.  
"Let go of me and I'll tell you." Chuck demanded.

Lucifer loosened his grip and Chuck fell onto the floor.  
"Now talk." Lucifer pulled out a gun and aimed it at Chuck's head.  
"It's pretty simple, really, if only you know what makes the timers work." Chuck raised his hands in a gesture of surrender. "There's no magic in it, no spells. Only regular timers constructed with a clear intention and then given to a person who has literally everything that makes their timer work."  
"What everything?" Castiel and Dean noticed Lucifer's hand starting to tremble a little and neither of them liked it.  
"Love." answered Chuck simply. "It's in all of us or rather in most of us." he cocked his head. "You, for example, don't have it in you."  
"That's bullshit!" Lucifer was barely holding his shit together. "I... I can love!"  
"I'm afraid you're wrong." Chuck made an apologetic expression of compassion. "You see, if you really could..."

But he wasn't given a chance to finish his sentence.

"No!" shouted Dean as he saw Lucifer pulling the trigger.  
It was too already late. A tiny red dot appeared on Chuck's forehead and he fell onto his back, dead before anyone could form a single thought. Lucifer was breathing heavily again, his face flushed and gun smoking in his hand. He slowly raised his head and looked at Dean only to find an expression of pure horror on his face.  
"Why did you do that, Lucifer?" Dean asked with painful disbelief.  
"I had to." Lucifer grimaced as if he actually felt some sort of regret. "Now I'm finally free." a crooked smile appeared on his face.

***

Sam knew that he had too little time. He kept swearing and speeding throughout his whole drive but he somehow felt there was no way he wouldn't be late. Once he reached his destination, without any hesitation he parked behind Dean's Impala and run into the villa, expecting to find some sort of post-slaughter landscape.

He hadn't been much far from the truth in his suspicions.

There was a body lying on the floor at Lucifer's feet, there were terrified Castiel and Dean, and then there was Gabe. Held by two men but also very much alive and scared. Sam made a mistake of stepping openly in and Lucifer noticed him.  
"Oh, Sam." he cooed, making everyone focus their attention on him. "You're late, it's all over now and I won."  
"So that's it?" Sam glanced at the body.  
"Yes." Lucifer smiled softly. "It's done, Sammy."  
"Good." Sam stated, making Dean gasp a little at his insensitiveness, but he was focused on getting Gabriel out alive so this was no time to oppose Lucifer. "You can free him now then." he pointed at Gabriel.  
"Free him?" Lucifer raised his brows. "Oh, Sam, I thought you promised to never leave me alone for anyone, no matter what. I guess a **soulmate** could be a major wrench in the works, don't you think?"  
"Luci, you know me, I wouldn't leave you." Sam tried a little too hard to be convincing.  
"Is that so?" Lucifer blinked few times. "Because I'm pretty sure that some kind of an escape occured this morning." he grimaced. "Don't lie to me, Sam. You can't play me like that, you just can't."

With growing horror Sam observed Lucifer raise his arm and aim his gun at Gabriel.  
"Say goodbye, Sammy." Lucifer uttered bitterly. "You're staying with me."  
"No!" Sam barked but before he could jump towards his brother, a gunshot resounded in the air and one body fell lifelessly onto the floor.


	18. Chapter 18

Lucifer was dead.

"Release him, boys." said a calm, unexpected voice from behind Dean's back. "No need to thank, friends."  
"You just shot my brother!" Sam bursted out, turning to the man.  
"As I said, no need to thank." the man smiled and then walked into the room, patting Sam's shoulder on his way towards the bodies. "Shame." he clucked, looking at Chuck.

Sam fell onto his knees and crawled towards Lucifer,  tears gathering in his eyes. Gabriel, freshly released, joined him, pulling him into a tight hug, trying to calm him down even though he knew he would be the one lying there, if Lucifer weren't, and then there would be no one on this world able to comfort Sam after his loss.

"Oh man, what a melodrama!" the man siged and turned on his heel. "And such a neat carpet destroyed!" he sighed.  
"Who the hell are you?!" Dean finally regained his ability to speak.  
"Believe me, buddy, you don't wanna know anything about me." the man smiled a surprisingly warm smile.

Castiel thought that he had never expected to find himself in such a surreal situation. He had just witnessed two murders and he still wasn't sure he understood reasons behind them. His soulmate was furious and probably in a state of denial, his own brother had been miraculously saved, and Sam Winchester was sobbing over the body of a killer and someone who had almost destroyed his happiness. This was just too much to comprehend.

The man who shot Lucifer glanced at Castiel and winked playfully as if this had only been some sort of stupig game and then he waved at those two who had previously been posing as Lucifer's people.  
"I believe it's time to get going." he said.  
"I believe not." said yet another voice, this time one that Castiel knew. "Drop your weapon."

 _Fuck._ thought Castiel, closing his eyes. _Double fuck._ he corrected himself as he heard a familiar clang of a gun.

***

In the doorway stood Hannah accompanied by Garth and Benny. She was holding a gun and her whole posture spoke of great determination, somehow even more highlighted by fresh bruises that marked her skin. She grimaced, tilting her head a little.  
"You little trash dump!" she hissed. "You son of a scumfucker! I see you are a bloody murderer but this wouldn't be enough to get me going, no, you **had to** make this personal. I wasn't asking for any of this. In fact, I tried to live a calm life, a life perfectly normal for someone who have been through what I have. I tried to forget about my past, my precious old job, everything, I really did and yet I got mixed up in this shit anyway." she shook her head as if she still had a hard time believing this was really happening. "You know, I came to accept this sort of bad luck and fate following me but this time I tried to be really careful. I didn't want to get hurt so I kindly packed my shit up and got the hell out of the dangerous zone. And what for?" there was a reproach in her voice. "Only to get caught for no apparent reason other than to serve as an example and get hit right in the head by some douchewad in dirty suit. Dude, what the actual fuck?!" there was no fear in her eyes, she was just really, insanely furious. "You provoked me. You made me pick up where I left off and only for this alone you deserve to get your ass kicked, you shitsquad." she waved her gun minutely, aiming at him.

"I wouldn't try to oppose her now, if I were you, Michael." Garth courageously added. "We advised her to get some rest since she got beaten up pretty badly but she insisted on kicking your butt personally. You are probably already a dead man."

Michael Milton looked at Garth and back at Hannah with shocked amusement and then he barked out with laughter. Paralysed by this sound, Hannah froze.  
"It's you..." she whispered, her eyes becoming big and suddenly full of fear.  
"You seriously thought I'm just some guy from outside?" he smirked pityingly. "Please, Hannah, there's only one mafia in this state and it's mine."  
"Thank you for admitting that." Garth stepped forward. "Although we didn't really need it, you know. Enough proofs already." At that Uriel and Zachariach finally shifted a bit on their places but Garth pointed his gun at them. "Uh-huh." he shook his head. "You're all under arrest and you will all be a great start for agent's Johnson career relaunch." he grinned. "Hannah?

Hannah didn't react. She was still frozen to the spot, her eyes unseeing, too deep in the void of her memories.

>  It was meant to be a regular mission. One agent had gotten into trouble and she was there to rescue him. She was focused on her task and nothing else mattered, even the thing said to be the most important one for her future. She was good enough to forget about that for a while.
> 
> "Can you hear me?" she asked, speaking into her mic.  
>  "Perfectly clear." answered Naomi right into her ear. "We have an access to the cameras. The kidnapper has a loaded gun in his hands aimed at agent Lafitte." she sighed. "No hesitation, Johnson. You have merely a split second to shoot him before he shoots our agent. One false movement and it's all not worth it."  
>  "Understood." Hannah knew the price but really, was there ever one single moment she hesitated to kill? Better blood of some thugs on her hands than a single innocent life prematurely finished. Angel of Death they called her. With fear, not mockery. No one was better than her in choosing the lesser evil.
> 
> On that day, though, something was off. She knew she shouldn't ask herself what was wrong because deep down she knew the answer. She just couldn't let it get to her. Once she walked into that building, she knew this would be harder than ever.
> 
> She was few steps inside when a sweet voice started flowing through the intercom. It was talking to her.  
>  "Oh Hannah, Hannah... They say you are the best." it said. "I've seen your magnificent work, never a single unnecessary death, ah... I wish you were on my side. At least you would get paid just as well as a virtuoso like you deserves."
> 
> She somehow knew the words that would come could be meaningful, could destroy her. And they did.
> 
> "It's not your day, Hannah." the voice said with fake worry. "Or rather maybe it is?" the man laughed and she knew she wouldn't forget that sound until the day she dies. "Not what you imagined, right? I wish I could see you make your rightful choice today." he laughed again. "Goodbye, Hannah."
> 
> She was breathing rapidly, feeling her stomach twist and clench. That man didn't really care. He wanted Hannah dead but he knew that on that day it was probably not meant to happen. It was just about one dead person, either his man or an agent and somehow both options were designed to take Hannah down. She knew they would but in her heart the choice had already been made. The right one.
> 
> Without hesitation she stepped into the room and fired her gun. Through the first tears she could see the man fall, the man who she had just met for the first time. She glanced at her timer, even though she didn't need any further confirmation. Zeros, all zeros, twinkling with a morbid joy. Then the timer turned off forever to remain that way.
> 
> Hannah crawled through the thick air up to the body of that man. Blood, so much blood. This time anonymus and yet she knew she would have learned it, if she had only been given a chance.  
>  "Mission" she croaked to the mic. "accomplished. Agent saved, unidentified man dead." and then the tears blurred her vision for good.
> 
> She barely noticed Benny Lafitte squatting by her side and holding her in his arms as if he knew what had just happened but obviously he couldn't understand that. No one could. No one had ever killed their soulmate in the moment they met.

"Hannah!" Garth urged her to react but it was too late, Michael saw a chance and took it.  
In a blink he squatted, picked up his gun and fired. Hannah managed to come back to reality just in time to understand she would die and kind of accept that but instead she was thrown off her feet by Benny, who until that moment hadn't really been taking part in the scene. She wasn't hurt and Michael swore, aiming his gun once again.

"Enough deaths for today." Garth was faster and shot his hand, making him let go of the gun. "Game over, Michael."  
Michael groaned angrily, covering his wound to stop the blood flow. He really had lost this time, the only gun was now in Garth's hands.  
"At least" he hissed with grim satisfaction. "I had my vengeance." he glanced at Lucifer's body and then at Sam and Gabe. They looked back at him.  
"He wasn't a good man." Sam was clearly in pain. "But he didn't deserve it. No one deserves death, even you."

Hannah heard Sam's words and trembled a little, still lying on the ground. Benny made a gesture to embrace her and help her up but she pushed his hand away and raised on her own. Her face was wet with tears as she aimed her gun at Michael once again.  
"He's right." she said, lowered her arm and fired into the floor, making everyone jump a little at the sound. "Not even you."  
She dropped her gun and leaned into Benny's embrace, finally letting out all the regret, all the pain, and all the ruthlessness in loud sobs.

Without any more word being said they waited for the police and FBI to arrive in a cacophony of sounds and lights.


	19. Chapter 19

Castiel realised that he would probably need at least a week to fully comprehend what had actually happened there and why. The fact that he had seen two people die wasn't even bothering him yet, too much emotion at once made him feel pretty numb. He barely registered policemen entering the room, cuffing Michael, Uriel and Zach, and then leading them all out before the ambulance came. A moment later a paramedic was asking him some questions but all he could tell was that he wasn't hurt and that he needed Dean.

Dean who was torn between trying to support Sam, muffling his own grief and caring for Cas, who looked truly unhealthy in his shock. Fortunately Gabriel was there to stay with Sam so Dean could join Castiel both to hide him in his arms and hide himself in Castiel's. Castiel sighed with relief as he finally felt Dean by his side, a pair of strong arms embracing him, gentle fingers starting to run through his hair to soothe him. The realisation that everything was finally over washed all over him like a massive tide and he almost yelped with happiness, tears rolling down his cheeks. The rebellion was over, the rebels won, and there was no way back but they were alive, he had his soulmate so close now, and they were about to write the next chapters of their lives together.

"Shhh..." Dean pulled Castiel closer to his chest, worried to see the tears in his eyes. "Everything's gonna be fine Cas, I promise."  
"I know." Castiel smiled, nuzzling into Dean's neck. "I finally can be sure of it." he looked up to meet Dean's eyes. "That's why I'm crying. It's over at last." his smile was sheepish.  
"Yes, it truly is." Dean smiled back weakly and a tear rolled down his cheek.  
"Hey, hey..." Castiel wiped it off with his thumb. "This wasn't the happiest ending I could imagine but I'm here with you and I'm not going to leave you alone with your pain, Dean. We will deal with it. Together." he sounded adamant.  
"I've had it worse." Dean sniffed and then after a short pause chuckled. "Maybe it's all for the best? He wouldn't cope with that knowledge, you know?" he rubbed his eyes. "He will find peace on the other side."  
"I'm sure he will." Castiel looked into Dean's eyes with the whole affection clearly visible in his own.

Dean smiled again and leaned forward to rest his forehead against Castiel's, to stay peaceful for a while, just sharing calming breaths.

***

Gabriel was silently nursing Sam in his arms. He couldn't stand seeing him so broken but he had to just be there for him, stay strong. And so he did, letting Sam cry all his pain out, being the warmth he could hide in. He really felt bad for being glad that Lucifer had been taken down but he couldn't help it. Maybe this wasn't the only way, this choice - Lucifer or him, maybe this could have been stopped differently but it didn't matter any more.

A paramedic had given him a blanket so he could wrap himself and Sam together, shielding them from the rest of the world, making this small area their spot of comfort. He kept rubbing small circles on Sam's back until his sobbing became less frequent and his breathing started evening out to finally stop. Sam looked Gabriel in the eyes. His face was puffy and he looked somehow even worse that Hannah with all her bruises but Gabe only loved him more. He cupped Sam's cheek and smiled lovingly.

"It's over, Sammy." he muttered softly. "We gotta move on, we finally can."  
"I will." Sam leaned into the caress.  
"I'll be there for you. Always." Gabriel promised.  
"I wouldn't even try without you." Sam whispered. "If it were you not him..." he shook his head minutely, grimacing at the thought. "I wouldn't. I would be as good as dead myself."

Gabriel observed Sam with big eyes, realising just how much Sam loved him. More than anyone, more than his twin brother.

"I feel guilty for being glat it was him." he could barely hear Sam admit this. "I should grieve him genuinely but I know it was either him or you. If it was my choice, I would choose you, that's the truth."  
"Fate made that choice for you." Gabriel's expression softened. "Don't feel guilty. Everyone would choose their soulmate."  
"So you don't think I'm an awful person?" Sam looked at him hopefully.  
"For loving me?" Gabriel cocked his head, smirking. "God, no. And other people won't too. I love you, Sammy. We made it, we're free to be us now/"  
"That sounds good, doesn't it?" Sam chuckled, squeezing Gabriel tighter.  
"Yeah, almost too good." Gabriel smiled, pressing a kiss onto Sam's mouth. "But I'm not gonna complain."

***

"Agent Henriksen." Garth grinned at the sight of another fed.  
"Fitzgerald." Victor Henriksen couldn't help smiling back at him. "Gotta admit, nice job, man." he approached Garth and patted his shoulder with approval.  
"Nah." Garth cringed a little. "Too many bodies to call it nice."  
"At least we finally have Milton." Victor tilted his head and glanced at the police car where Michael was kept until he could be taken to the nearest poilce station. "It's a good day for the administration of justice."

"Even better than that." suddenly Garth's eyes were twinkling with an impish joy. "Do you happen to remember agent Johnson?"  
"Johnson as in Angel-of-Death-Johnson?" Henriksen squinted with suspicion.  
"Exactly." Garth bowed his head slightly. "She's over there." he pointed towards the ambulance where all the witness of the tragic incidents currently were. "And last time I checked she was all into being back on board. She helped me catch that douche."

Henriksen was impressed. "Would be great to have her back, fits my team. You think she will talk to me now?"  
"You can try." Garth smiled encouragingly. "If not, you surely have some fancy business card to leave her for later.  
"Let's go then, shall we?" Victor patted Garth's shoulder once again and they walked together towards the ambulance.

***

Hannah had no idea why Benny would choose to stick with her even after the danger was no more but she was glad he did. She was glad to have someone by her side to support her, even if it was a person who in a way stood behind all the trouble. Only once she had been the one to take care of Benny and since that day he kept appearing whenever she needed help. Maybe it was high time to accept that.

Hannah sighed as the doctor finished examining her bruises and found no serious injuries, advising her just to have some rest and let everything heal by itself. Benny seemed to be relieved to hear that and she smiled to him reassuringly.

"Thank you." she said.  
"What for?" Benny looked genuinely surprised.  
"Everything." Hannah lowered her gaze. "For caring for me, for somehow always being there and only today for allowing me to fight, helping me come here and then saving my life. If you've ever thought you owe me anything, then you need to know you never really did. We were even the moment you chose to hold me when I couldn't hold on by myself. You don't have to care so much and risk your life for me."  
"Actually I do, Hannah." he gently took her hand and looked her in the eyes.

"I think it finally is the time for us to talk." he took a deep breath. "I really don't like bringing back that day but I feel I have to. I need to close that chapter."  
"What do you mean - close that chapter?" she went paler.  
"Hannah..." he begun softly, caressing her hand. "That man who died there... he wasn't the only person you've met for the first time upon entering that room."  
"But..." her eyes went wide because she wanted it to be true.  
"Yes, we'd talked before." he smiled. "But I don't think a phone call counts as a meeting. And my timer? It also stopped right then."

Hannah was at a complete loss of words. She could just look at him and see the whole truth in his eyes, the same pain she'd been through so unnecessarily, and this gentle affection she thought she would never see anyone have for her.  
"I'm so sorry." she whispered, her eyes filling up with tears. "Why haven't you told me sooner?"  
"You were so heartbroken." Benny dared to cup her cheek and swipe the tears off her skin. "Saying this could have been too much. I couldn't do this to you and after that... I was just scared so I chose to help you and take care of you from a distance. It made me happy to see you move on and I didn't dare bring that day back."  
"I don't know what to say..." she couldn't believe she had been so blind.  
Benny smiled. "Then say yes to us."

Hope lit up Hannah's face and she raised her hand up to cover Benny's on her cheek.

"Yes."

***

A polite grunt put a halt to Hannah's and Benny's shared moment of silence.  
"Agent Henriksen." Victor introduced himself. "You must be Hannah Johnson." he smiled at her. "Pleased to meet you. You are a real legend, my lady."  
Hannah looked at him suspiciously. "Indeed." she said carefully. "How can I help you?"

Benny squeezed her palm, feeling her getting all nervous. He wished she could never feel like that again.

"Agent Fitzgerald here" he glanced at Garth and then turned back to her. "told me all about your taking part in the Michael's capture. For the sake of your impressive past achievements and today's engagement, I'm pleased to offer you a place in my team. We could use people as talented as you are."

Hannah sealed her lips together into a thin line. She had made some good choices on that day already and she needed to make one more. Was she really able to fight like she used to?

"Benny..." she turned to him. "You were an agent too. How... Why did you quit? Because you did, right?"  
"Yes." Benny glanced at Victor. "I nearly died there, they understood my unwillingness to take more risks and... I wanted to keep an eye on you. I understood this was the time to slow down and wait for you to see it too." he smiled crookedly. "If you want to go back to this though, then go on. I will follow you, I always will. I want you to stay safe but I also want you to be happy and if this is what can bring you joy, go for it."

Hannah inhaled deeply, looking Benny in the eyes, and then she turned back to Victor. There was only one decision she could make and this time it wasn't the lesser evil, it was purely good.

"Thank you for your offer." she begun. "But I'm afraid I have to pass." Victor's face dropped. "You see, I've got an entirely new life to live and I'm no longer the woman I used to be." she smiled. "I'm someone better than that."  
Victor looked at her really disappointed but it didn't matter because Benny was radiating with joy by her side. Yes, it truly was the right choice. No more deaths, no more fighting, just love. Good, old love.

***

Sam felt much better with his arm around Gabriel, able to lean on him at least a little. Once they both stopped being so shaky, they decided to talk to Dean and Cas. Gabriel really insisted on approching them as soon as possible so they've found them sitting on a curb, leaning against each other in a silent companionship.

"Hey, guys." Sam uttered silently and they both looked at him, smiling.  
"How you doin', Sammy?" Dean asked with worry.  
"I'm gonna be fine. At least until I confront Ruby." Sam produced a faint smile. "How are you?"  
"We're good, I guess." Dean embraced Castiel with one arm and Cas nuzzled into him.

"Uhm..." Gabriel grunted, interrupting their moment. "I believe I need to tell you something." he sighed. "I'm terribly sorry, Cas, but I had to do this."  
"Do what?" Castiel frowned, anxiety building up again in his gut.  
"Look at your timer before you threw it out." Gabriel admitted silently and Castiel barely stopped himself from barking out with laughter, relaxing even faster than he had tensed up. "I didn't do this with my own and I regretted it very much. I thought I shoud spare you the pain." he bit his lip nervously. "And then that day came. It was exactly when you came to join me, when you've... met Dean." his face became beet red.

Castiel kept staring at him, maintaining the unreadable expression. He was taking in all Gabriel's nervousness until he couldn't torture him any longer and bursted out with laughter. Gabriel was confused and even hurt, especially when a moment later Dean joined Cas in his laughing fit.

"Oh, Gabe..." Castiel eventually managed to calm himself down. "I took a look too. I knew everything and as it turned out, Dean did too. We were just a pair of idiots but we've grown wiser now."  
"But..." Gabriel raised his hand helplessly. "But I was trying to get you to understand this..."  
"And we finally did." Dean smiled at him. "Thank you for caring."

Gabriel glanced at Sam, his mouth agape. Sam shrugged, smirking smugly. Dean chuckled, observing them, and then turned his attention back to Castiel.  
"So..." he begun.  
And then he wasn't allowed to finish as Cas shut his mouth with a kiss.

 _Oh, well..._ thought Dean, responding eagerly. _It can wait then. We have all the time of the world, after all._


	20. EPILOGUE: One Year Later

"Really?" Dean entered the living room with a bowl of popcorn in his hands as there was literally no other food in the house and froze at the sight of Castiel actually watching television.  
"What?" Castiel pouted defensively. "You took like a quarter there, I got bored. Were you planting that corn or what?"  
Dean rolled his eyes and focused on the TV screen. "But news, Cas? Seriously?"  
"Well, at least I do have some interest in the current situation of the world we live in." Castiel raised his brows.  
"What you have is an urge to prove that you're the smarter one." Dean huffed and sat on the comfy sofa by Castiel's side, placing the bowl on the table.  
"You know that's not what I meant." suddenly Castiel's voice was softer and he poked Dean's side delicately to stop him from getting all grumpy. "You are smart, Dean, and I love your mind as much as I love your soul. Together they make you who you are." he slid his arms around Dean's tense form.

"You're an old, cunning sap, Cas." Dean grumbled, beginning to unwind and lean into Castiel's embrace.  
"Don't say I didn't warn you before you married me." Castiel chuckled, running his fingers through Dean's hair.  
"No one would expect this much sappiness." Dean grinned, closing his eyes.  
"Asshole." Castiel kissed Dean's warm lips, smiling against them.  
"Your asshole." Dean cupped Castiel's chin and pulled him closer, his finger wandering up to trace the pattern of his tattoo. "And spare me the pun."  
"But it's always funny!" Castiel pretended to be hurt.  
"Surely, tiger." Dean purred. "So what's up with the world? Still in flames?"

"Pretty much." Castiel sighed and bent over Dean to grab the bowl. "They still have no clue what makes the timers work. Some parents are going nuts, trying to buy them on a black market. It's madness." he shook his head, putting some popcorn into his mouth. "Maybe we should tell them?"  
"And they sure as hell will believe us..." Dean snorted. "Let's leave it as it is. Lucifer achieved his goal and people still will be able to find their love. Do you honestly think I wouldn't know, if it wasn't for my timer?" he opened his eyes and looked into Castiel's. "Cas, man, I would surely see that something thrilling was up. This thing can't be mistaken for anything else."  
"I know." Castiel smiled softly. "Let's just forget news, okay?"  
"That's my boy." Dean chuckled and leaned into another kiss but instead of feeling those delicious lips against his, he got his mouth stuffed with popcorn.

"Wht tha fuk?" he mumbled, trying not to choke.  
Totally unmoved, Castiel watched him chew and swallow.  
"What was that, Cas?" Dean wiped his mouth, visibly offended.  
"You were starting another make out session." Castiel remained calm. "We've just gotten out of bed, it's late and we have things to do. For instance, buying a wedding present for our brothers, cleaning up the house, doing some shopping..."  
"Cas, it's Saturday morning, we're having popcorn for breakfast and you want me not to kiss the living shit out of you?" Dean pulled his best puppy eyes.

"It's actually noon." Cas corrected him and Dean's stare became only more intense and wide-eyed. "About that second part though..." he hesitated. "I can't pretend you don't have some arguments that could convince me..." he leaned down and took Dean's lower lip between his teeth to suck on it for a while. "Arguments like this one." he moved on to the upper lip. "This one." he entered Dean's mouth and sucked in his tongue. "And that." he loved seeing Dean's cheeks become all rosy as he melted into the kisses that followed. "I think I might have reconsidered your offer." he purred.  
"And?" Dean looked him in the eyes seriously.  
"Upon my husbands request the makeout session is now open." Castiel smirked, already knowing that this couldn't end just with kisses.

Getting out of the house with Dean around was a hard task and two hours later when they were both back to the stage of full undress, Castiel realised he couldn't be less bothered. They could go to the shop on the next day... or on Monday. Dean's body was warm against his chest and soon he felt the sleep creeping up to close his eyes. Dean had already given up, his breathing slowing down gradually, and Castiel hugged him tighter, positively dizzy in his relaxed state.

"Dean." he mumbled just to say something.  
Dean opened one, already a bit puffy eye and smiled at him. "Cas..." he said lazily and shut his eyelid back. "I love you." he muttered in a somewhat drunken voice. "I love everything about you. I just sometimes wonder" he frowned a little, wriggling against the firm body of his husband. "what's the meaning behind your tattoo..." The question was so unexpected and unrelated to antyhing that it was a bit too complicated for Castiel's fogged, post-orgasmic brain - before he managed to form any answer, Dean spoke again. "Or you know what? Don't tell me. Mysterious equals sexy." he chuckled. "You're sexy." he run his fingers along the shaven side of Castiel's head. "Do you wonder about anything too?" his eyes fluttered open, this time the lazy fullfillment replaced by genuine, and almost sober curiosity.

"I do." Castiel was slowly gathering his wits. "I wonder whether my timer was still working after I threw it into the sea. It was just an electronic device, after all."  
"Does it really matter?" Dean craned his neck and kissed Castiel's nose.  
"I guess not really." Castiel closed one eye playfully. "But it's an interesting problem, isn't it?"  
"Just as interesting as the one who came up with it." Dean grinned and licked through Castiel's mouth, not entirely innocently. "We should invest in a gong." he added, moving on to nibble on his ear.  
"A gong?" Castiel squinted.  
"Yes." Dean let go of his earlobe to glance at him from beneath his eyelashes. "It would be just perfect to announce the beginning of every new round."

Amused by the dorkiness of his man, Castiel shook his head and his lips bent into a tiny smirk at the thought of their neighbours wondering why they keep hearing at least ten gongs a day. _Twelve would be nice._ he thought, laziliy sliding his hands along the curve of Dean's back. _One could measure the time._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And so we've reached the end! I hope you enjoyed my story and maybe a bit untypical soulmates AU ;) Thank you for all the kudos and comments! Please, do share your thoughts on the fic :) Cheers!  
> P.S.: If you're wondering for real what's the story behind the tattoo, I'll share what I had in mind :p Surprisingly, it doesn't mean much to Cas. It's just a design he found beautiful and maybe a way to stress his independence. To the story though, it's pretty important. It reflects Castiel's well-being. You see, he tends to forget about shaving whenever he's anxious and the depth of his neglect grows along with his worry and sadness. When he shaves again it's the sign of a new beginning and the tattoo stays boldly shown afterwards to serve as a remainder and as a proof that once again Cas cares :) I hope that this makes sense somehow ;P If there are any more mysteries left to be solved, ask away. I'll answer all the questions eagerly :)


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